How shared workspaces became a global trend

It is no secret that coworking spaces are taking over the corporate world. With the rise of the startup economy and the growing need for flexibility and higher standard of office facilities and lifestyle amenities, coworking spaces became a global phenomenon, adopted by both freelancers, startups and even large corporations. The shared workspaces is continuing to grow and change the way we think about going to the office.

Some facts about coworking spaces:

1. The first official coworking space is usually attributed to a software engineer named Brad Neuberg, who founded a coworking space in San Francisco in 2005. But the history of coworking spaces goes further back.
2. In 1989, the English entrepreneur Mark Dixon founded “Regus”, a business center in Brussels, which was designed to answer the needs of business people on the go. Since then, the company has opened similar business centers in 106 countries across the globe.
3. Other ancestors of today’s coworking space include C-base in Berlin, founded in 1995, and 42 West 24 in New York City, founded in 1999.
4. Yet, it wasn’t until 2016 when the coworking culture made its big impact on the corporate real estate industry.
5. In 2018, the number of coworking spaces worldwide grew by 36%.
6. The number of coworking spaces is expected to grow in 13% by 2022.
7. As of 2019, there are 22,000 shared workspaces around the world, with about 2.2 million users.
8. There are about 400 coworking spaces in Israel.
9. In 2018, the demand for flexible coworking spaces for corporates grew in 21%.
10. According to one estimation, large companies and corporations are expected to take over 40% of the flexible working spaces.
11. Big corporations that use shared workspaces include Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Alibaba, Samsung electronics and Verizon Wireless, among others.

Why companies and corporations are moving to shared workspaces?

Companies are leaving behind their traditional offices for coworking spaces for several reasons:

Environment – Coworking spaces offer a different, diverse and often casual atmosphere, something between a trendy coffee shop and a tech conference. Right when you enter a coworking space you can sense that it is vastly different from a traditional office or an open space; it may be the aroma of fresh coffee or the mix of people working in their private desks and others who strike up engaging conversations at large shared tables. More and more companies across the globe understand the huge benefit of working in such a flexible and diverse environment.

Creativity and Innovation – The culture of the coworking space enables creativity and mobility; it inspires organic and spontaneous collaborations and conversations, and encourages innovation by allowing people with various skills and talents to meet, connect and even collaborate.

Networking & Social Interaction – The mixed environment of the coworking space also opens the door to new ideas, easy recruitment of new talent and potential collaborations. Working in a shared workspace has been proved to improve employees’ motivation and productivity. Seeing other individuals busy and motivated usually have very positive effects on the efficiency of employees.

Cost-effectiveness – Shared offices offer all the amenities that office need and more: from fully equipped kitchens to hig- speed internet, office supplies and equipment, not to mention office maintenance and cleaning services. That way, companies can spend their resources on the things that matter while letting the community managers to take care of the rest.

More and more companies and corporations are moving to shared office spaces. They allow flexibility, are customizable to each company’s needs, encourage innovation and productivity and relief much of the unnecessary stress of taking care of employee well-being and office maintenance. It is clear that this is not a passing trend, but our new standard for high quality work environments.