Coworking spaces are supposed to be the nexus of productivity and collaboration. Unlike conventional formal office setups, they should kindle small businesses and start-ups by providing them with the necessary services and resources.
How much of that holds true for the majority of the co-working offices in the city? While many come with lucrative networking opportunities and gorgeous views, how many are capable of fostering collaborative productivity?
Sometimes, it is not about the interior decoration, the furniture, the lighting, or even the fitness classes at the shared offices. You must remember that at these places, you will be sharing the space and the resources with other people. Your co-workers will have a massive impact on your co-working experience.
In fact, downright gorgeous co-working offices can become intolerable due to intervention from other members sharing your desk or room. They can be the signifier of change, which you need to usher in your work-life ASAP.
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Too much sharing
Yes! That exists. Many co-working places have communal recreation rooms, furniture, desks, and resources. However, the people working there reserve the right to bring their personal items to work.
Borrowing electronic devices like a laptop or a tablet, taking office permission (especially from private chambers), and not returning them is one of the biggest follies anyone can commit. If this keeps happening, you need to think about finding a better coworking space with better members.
Read about the current occupants of a shared office before you move in. A little stalking will do you right. While there is no way to ensure the level of professionalism of your co-workers, you can expect a highly reputed place to have a few rules in place that can control such behavior. To know more about finding the right working place, follow the Skydesk Livingston NJ blog.
There’s too much distraction
Sometimes, a little bit of distraction can help you eliminate tunnel vision in the workplace. However, regular annoyances, like someone bringing their sick pets or someone leaving their children unattended in the work area, can be extremely interrupting to the workflow.
It might seem extremely uncouth to point it out to the particular coworker who is engaging in such behavior, but it is you, who ends up paying. That is especially a significant problem if you are allergic to pets or if you are facing a creative block.
In such cases, find a co-working space that has a no-pet and no-children policy. Always think about the pros and cons of such rules before you shift your work base.
People can be stingy about meeting rooms and conferences
You might have faced this before, a business manager, who was too stingy about hiring a conference room because he had to attend to just one client that day. It does not seem like much unless you consider the number of people you work with and the possibility of each one of them entertaining one guest per day!
That is a scary situation even for the calmest worker. Co-working spaces can get really loud, really quickly, if there is no strict policy about meetings and entertaining guests (or clients). It is your responsibility to arrange for conference rooms for upcoming meetings. In case your office does not ensure that you need to find one that does!
They try to game the system
More than once, you will find colleagues, who will try to game the booking and pricing system. They will try to book the conference rooms at odd intervals to spread out their credits. Some members love to hog the private conference rooms because they have somehow stumbled upon endless credits.
No one requires the seminar rooms or meeting rooms at an interval of 30 minutes or for an entire month. If this keeps happening in your coworking space, you have found yourself a rogue coworker, and it is time for you to do something about it.
No one takes responsibility for the heating and cooling system
Although this is a small detail, it can be very annoying. Imagine walking in from 100 degrees outside and entering into the world of Frozen and the Ice Queen because some genius just realized that they are not paying the energy bills.
The reverse is true as well. There is no point getting frostbite in the middle of New Jersey because your co-working space rental covers the heating bill. The standard room temperature is about 72 degrees. If someone is cold or hot at that temperature, they should adjust their clothing.
The thermostat is communal as well, and no one should assume autonomy over it. We have seen wars break out inside offices (traditional and co-working) over the thermostat setting. If you do not have mature co-workers who understand the simple science of room temperature, it is time for you to consider a new place.
Conference call chaos, loud phone conversations, occasional coffee scarcities in the kitchen, and lack of enough charging points are some issues that any smart worker can deal with. However, some of the co-working problems are not just distracting and infuriating.
They are plain weird. Unless you have a large team, which has already settled in, you should always consider a new co-working office in such cases. In most cases, people do not do these deliberately, and you can achieve some improvement by communicating clearly. You can also try to speak with the space manager and vendor about these problems.
Co-working is about peaceful coexistence and collaboration. You must always remember that architecture and interior landscaping have a minimal role to play in determining your work experience.
The actual office experience consists of the demeanor of the employees. It is true for traditional office setups as well as contemporary co-working spaces, bringing a wave of change across international work cultures.
