Collaborative coworking office spaces have been rising in popularity for quite a while now. Flexible, open, and contemporary, these spaces are seen as the innovative new way to arrange your office in order to keep your employees happy and productive. But are coworking spaces really always better than traditional private offices? As always, it depends!
Here are some things to consider when deciding between the different setups, and some inventive ways to incorporate the best of both types into your office!
One of the most attractive reasons for opting towards a more collaborative and open workspace is that it leaves your office with more room to grow.
When there aren’t dedicated office spaces for each employee, you have much more flexibility in how many desks you place throughout the space and how they are arranged!
As your business grows, you only have to worry about adding more desks or areas to work, rather than creating additional individual rooms or spaces for each new employee. Plus, you don’t have to worry as much about employees with equal seniority or status being designated with unequal amounts of space – the collaborative nature of coworking means most areas are primarily shared.
While a coworking office may not provide as much space for employees to express their own taste with their own desk decorations and organization, there are plenty of other ways you can create the space for employees to showcase their personalities!
Check out our other blog post, where we cover clever ways to design your office’s break room, including the idea of mug cubbies for each employee. But regardless of decorating opportunities, your employees will definitely love having more options for where to do their work outside of the traditional desk set-up. At Open Mind, we offer plenty of fun collaborative furniture options that we know your team will appreciate!
Coworking offices can encourage teamwork, creativity, and brainstorming. However, while a shared office space has these benefits, it can also present some barriers in getting work done efficiently. Depending on the nature of the work, a coworking space can present extra noise and distractions for employees. Phone calls with clients can become difficult to hear when everyone is sharing a single space. Plus, if your business involves clients coming in-person, it may reflect negatively on your business’ image if there appears to be a lack of privacy or confidentiality with sensitive information.
Private offices can offer confidentiality, and furthermore give employees much more control over how they organize themselves.
Individual offices are very practical for client meetings, as they offer more privacy and comfort when dealing with personal matters. However, if your office has space for conference rooms, these are also great options for those important meetings with clients.
Private offices may be able to offer your employees with a better setting to focus and be productive in, depending on their preferred work environment. Everyone has a setting that they work best in, so it’s great to be as accommodating as possible. This will set both your employees and your business up for success!
You can use a panel based system to create enclosed workstations in your open space, which can provide a great mix of private and shared workspaces, another modern and innovative way to build privacy is through our Tek Booths and Tek Rooms. These comfortable and attractive enclosed spaces can provide your employees with the perfect space to work in when they’re required to do more focused tasks. The different Tek POD (privacy on demand) size options are able to accommodate both individual and small work groups.
Having difficulty deciding on the perfect combination of private and collaborative workspaces for your office?
That’s no surprise at all. Your business is unique, and your office space needs a custom approach to guarantee it will work for your clients and your employees.
Our team members at Open Mind Interiors are experts in custom design, and have a wealth of options and suggestions that will guide you to creating an office space that will fulfill your specific vision.
You’re welcome to reach out to us at any time for a consultation!