Coworking involves the choice to work alongside others by people who have the flexibility to work from almost anywhere. It often appeals to independent workers who
- Miss the community and support that comes hand in hand with traditional work places,
- Find themselves easily distracted or losing focus on their work-related goals but don’t want to give up their independence and creative vision by going to work for someone else,
- Or who simply want a more professional and reliable place to work and meet clients than a café, home office, library, or hotel room.
Core Values: Coworking spaces often endorse a set of shared core values, and Locus Workspace is no exception.
Coworking spaces provide the infrastructure and support to promote successful coworking, including community building and educational activities, quality office space and resources, and a membership base of others with similar needs and wants.
While there are many benefits to being one’s own boss and being able to work from anywhere, independent workers also face many challenges. Their offices, if they exist, often are not as professional or reliable as would be ideal. They often feel socially isolated or simply stir crazy. They may lack specialized knowledge or expertise that colleagues at a standard 9-5 job would be able to answer on the spot. They may struggle from a lack of clear boundaries between work and family life or between work and play time. Coworking spaces were created in large part to address these challenges for independent workers.
Here are some links to learn more about coworking:
- Coworking on Wikipedia
- Coworking in Prague: An informal association between a group of coworking spaces in Prague.
- “What is Coworking?” from Coworker.com. Coworker.com is a portal for finding coworking spaces around the world. Their blog post describing what coworking is gives one of the better descriptions of the phenomenon we’ve seen.
- Why Coworking: Great video from office furniture giant Steelgate’s Turnstone brand describing the coworking concept and its appeal.
- Coworking Community Wiki
- Coworking Discussion Forum
- Coworking.com: Coworking page with a brief intro and links to other important coworking sites.