Co-working Is Underrated

Cities are abuzz with co-working, with new spaces springing up all around the world. However, not many are capturing the true essence of coworking, and that, the concept is underrated.

If you’re an avid follower of the movement or just an onlooker, you’d have noticed that the most trite term associated with coworking is ‘startup’. While it’s evident that the meteoric rise of startups has fueled the co-working revolution, it’s also not so obscure that there’s a potentially larger audience who remain significantly underserved. I’d like to elaborate on this.

For kids short of adolescence, work is play and vice versa. For teenagers and young adults, work is mostly study, but ideally, work should also cover a hobby or two. And for stay-at-home moms and dads, work is mainly taking care of their infants, but then everyone deserves a break from work, right?

So why should startups and hip freelancers have all the fun? Because…err…they are cool? So are globetrotters who hit a bnb more often than anybody else, but that doesn’t prevent Airbnb from serving that corporate sellout via Airbnb for Business (www.airbnb.co.in/business-travel). Thus it’s unfortunate that the coolest shared spaces across the world (read WeWork) ignore the other demographics altogether, only to remain slaves to the modish startuppers.

Here’s what should happen, and is bound to happen, sooner rather than later:

• Mainstream will be ‘co-playing’ centers with recreational and educational equipment to make those kids experience the joy of using their oral skills, and doing, rather than just tapping and pressing.
• Co-working will extend to ‘co-studying’ for those unfortunate young workers from ‘developing third-world nations’ who don’t have access to decent (paid) libraries or study centers, to maybe collaborate or just carry out their work in peace. Not to forget about those aspiring independent tutors who need short-term spaces too.
• While there are a plenty of day care services, there’s hardly any that offer the flexibility of co-working. Or the affordability for that matter.

To sum it up, I’m in love with the idea behind shared spaces and the potential (positive) impact it can have, with the success of co-working spaces being Exhibit A. There is a dire need of property owners to become enablers to take the movement forward. They need to think beyond renting and leasing to embrace co-working, co-studying, co-playing or co-anything. Once we have them spaces on board, there will be only looking forward.

Share your thoughts or rant all you like, I’ll never miss an email sent to arpit@nwook.com.

First published on TechInAsia: 

Follow me on Twitter.

Image Credit: TheNextWeb.