March 10, 2020
People like coworking spaces, but face a number of challenges
Employees enjoy working in a coworking space, claims a recent Clutch report — 77 percent of coworking employees are satisfied with their shared office space. Just because people are happy in a coworking environment does not mean they don’t experience challenges working in one though. Clutch surveyed 500 coworking employees across the U.S. to learn exactly what challenges they face in their coworking space.
The report claims that nearly all people who work in a coworking environment (88 percent) experience challenges such as distractions, lack of space, and security issues. Also just one-third of coworking employees (33 percent) would prefer to work in their coworking space, less than the number who prefer to work remotely (39 percent) but more than the number who would prefer to work in a traditional office (28 percent).
Businesses that overcome the top challenges of coworking can make employees happier and more likely to want to work in a shared office space, rather than remotely. There are more than 20,000 coworking spaces in the world. If businesses can’t overcome the challenges of their specific coworking space, they may consider finding another coworking office that better suits to their needs.
Top 6 challenges of coworking spaces
1. Distractions and noise (48 percent)
2. Lack of privacy (48 percent)
3. Limited space (39 percent)
4. Insufficient equipment (31 percent)
5. Inability to personalise workspace (31 percent)
6. Security/safety issues (23 percent)
Businesses shouldn’t avoid coworking spaces
Nearly all employees face challenges in their coworking environment. Still, one-third would prefer to work in a coworking space over another type of workspace. The top challenges of coworking are distractions/noise, lack of privacy, limited space, insufficient equipment, and inability to personalise their workspace. One-quarter of employees say they face safety and security issues at their coworking workspace as well. Businesses should address these challenges to make employees feel happier, safer, and more productive at work.
