Coworking is style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity. Individuals are usually not employed by the same person.
The lure of working and collaborating in a Coworking space can be similar to the buzz of a start-up environment and quite different from the uninspiring routine of the typical office cubicle. Although the “Coworking generation” is at the forefront of the future of work according to Google Trends it’s still only the beginning with a growing number of people searching for the term “Coworking”:
A recent Harvard Business Review report discusses the benefits of getting employees to “collide”. According to their data, the idea is that creating collisions and chance encounters and unplanned interactions between knowledge workers, both inside and outside the organisation—improves performance. If you have ever been to a Coworking space before you may have noticed this first hand. Unlike a typical office, coworkers are generally individual entrepreneurs or freelancers from various backgrounds but when put together in a common space begin to form connections and relationships that otherwise may not have occurred.
The Coworking phenomenon is happening around world and is breeding a new kind of workforce that is spanning the 30-40-something “Generation X”, the 20-30 something “Generation Y” and the latest, the new borns-to-teens known as “Generation Z”.
In other words it’s no longer about age or location, it’s about the changing landscape of employment fuelled by new remote working technology and the rise of a new generation of Coworking spaces.
A growing amount of workers are now demanding an alternative to the typical corporate structure where intangible benefits like contributing to a community of like-minded people and being part of a meaningful purpose are the new priorities. This attracts a different kind of personality–one who is more open to the excitement that comes with creating your own work.
