Co-working spaces have grown as an asset to companies, by harnessing the drive to creativity and productivity. Today, companies thrive, not just to achieve financial profitability, but productivity enhancement too. Workspaces could be a great inspiration to outstanding performance and an influence to leading a motivational work life. Bright colours, quirky patterns and lively ambience are a great stress-buster and help nourish one’s creative thought-process. More than sharing just office spaces, co-working has evolved further into an environment where different minds function under one roof. New-age technology, flexibility, structure and design thinking – have together facilitated the co-creation of an all new community. This transformation from traditional offices with cabins and glass doors to sharing work bays and lunch boxes with friends from different companies definitely does hold a different meaning to the employees. 

Enhancing the productivity of employees begins from the environment. In fact, a survey report by The Office Group (TOG) reveals that about 80% of employees feel more productive in co-working spaces than in their previous offices. Aspects such as company branding within premises, refreshments and breaks taken care, access to facilities and the overall ambience, not only speak of company values in terms of managing resources, but are also found to be feasible at shared spaces than own offices. 

How different are workspaces of today? 

Stroll through the city, and one can find umpteen number of co-working spaces in almost every corner, these days. Each co-working space definitely has something to offer. Walls painted with abstracts and quirky colours, bar stools replacing mobile chairs - these are ideally what define co-working spaces. So, what does this mean to the employees? Workplace plays a major role in setting the right tone of the surrounding and the brand, as a whole. A culture that began thriving for economy in operations has now gone far beyond, touching the need points of networking, flexibility and creativity.  Networking allows access to wider perspectives, which in turn helps spark better conversations within the workspace. 

Although the rise in need for co-working spaces is attributed to start-ups, today, even large corporate are looking to move to shared workspaces. Given that multiple industries such as IT, real estate, technology, arts etc, these days prefer to work out of co-working spaces, customisation is now the key trend in the industry. Start-ups, for instance, are flexible in terms of work timings, and the way they work - quirky backgrounds, fun while working, play around with pets etc, thereby creating a positive impact in the physical and mental health of the employees around. A corporate, on the other side, may want an ambience that resonates with the company's brand and values; companies with female employees who are mothers, want a day-care centre - needs vary with different types of audience. Rapid technological developments such as AI have been assisting companies with services such as reception desk, visitor tracking, food orders and even attendance management.

Keeping the spirit of competitiveness up, co-working space providers are now looking to expand operations to a wide variety of services, mainly to cater to the employee-community than the company as a whole. This change in attitude and expectations of employees towards contemporary culture definitely does raise a question in our minds - 'Are workspaces of today really designed to fuel aspirations?'  Employees now have begun to seek motivation in perks other than remunerations, as against a trend which didn't exist earlier. With ambience having come to play a major role in triggering creativity in the performance of employees, the level of expectations have also begun to rise. Employees these days, prefer flexible working, creative backgrounds, programmes to keep them entertained and motivated while at work, and 24*7 assistance for services. The co-working culture, as popular as it is among the youth, has not only influenced the working population of today, but job seekers too. Candidates now give equal importance to the look and feel of the office as much as the work profiles.