THE CO-WORKING SPACE CONCEPT

Anne Leforestier
THE CO-WORKING SPACE
 The co-working space is a “movement”

 Concept: renting a desktop in an open space shared with

other independent workers for a very flexible period

 Work community: rules to respect

 Values: collaboration, openness, community and

sustainability

 Co-workers: mainly web developers, freelancers,

entrepreneurs

 The more you give the more you have in return

 WHAT CO-WORKERS ARE LOOKING FOR?
Survey realized by the Wiki of Co-working on 120 co-workers.

Importance of expected features in a

co-working space (out of 5): Main benefits:

Atmosphere 1 4,5
Community Feeling 2 4,3 1. Community
Collaborative Environment 3 4,1
Location 4 4 2. Advice
Networking Opportunities 5 3,9
3. Support
Meeting Spaces 6 3,7
Excellent Coworkers 7 3,7 4. Promotion
Quiet Spaces 8 3,4
Security 9 3,2 5. Mentor
24 hr Access 10 3,1

0 5
 Include a wide range of services:
 WIFI connection, power
 IT facilities
 Fax machines, projector, flipcharts,
printers, phones, scans, bookbinder
 Whiteboard, paper, furniture
 Conference rooms, lounge, recreation
rooms
 library
 Water, coffee and snacks
 Storage capacity
 Insurance
 CO-WORKING SPACE
Pro
 Costs savings
 Wide range of flexible services
proposed
 Interactions between coworkers
 Friendly environment
 Possibility to create co-working
spaces for specific sectors
 Opportunity to diversify the
offered services
 Creation of a worldwide
community of co-workers
 Implementable to companies
who want to offer more friendly
environment to their innovators
to gain in efficiency
Cons
 Lake of privacy
 Intellectual property
 Lake of collaboration
 Adequacy of the space
 Lack of frequentation: because
it is not “their office”
 Hacking problems
 The co-working spaces could
suffer the competition from
cafés that offer free wifi
 Development of the 3G
technology
 The credit crunch has
slowdown the creation of start-
up