Choosing between co-working spaces and traditional offices is getting harder as each day passes by. While both have their own advantages and downsides, co-working spaces continue to challenge the traditional office concept.
Everyone has different work principles and feels comfortable while working is different. You decide what is right for you. In this article, we will talk about traditional and shared offices comparatively, and you will come to a conclusion by considering the advantages and disadvantages!
Main Features of Traditional Offices: Advantages & Disadvantages
Working in a traditional office has been preferred for years and has many advantages. Let’s examine the advantages together:
Workplace relationships
It is easier to form intimate bonds in traditional offices. Employees are not in for a surprise when they come to work from home every morning. They can form more intimate and stronger bonds with their colleagues, especially because they know who to work with every day. In addition, they can establish a more positive and contributing relationship because they can work with their superiors.
Familiarity
A traditional office will increase the loyalty of the employees to the company by making them more familiar with the company they are in. This sense of familiarity will provide a comfort zone, improve productivity and establish a stable routine.
Control
Having your own workspace means a private space that you have complete control over. You have full control over the office, no sudden surprises, and you do not have to worry about working with others or sharing the same space.
Enough with the advantages, let’s see what disadvantages they have:
Workplace relationships
We agree that it is good to develop good relationships with people familiar in the workplace. However, this may have a negative effect on networking in the long run, causing the person to miss out on existing opportunities. Or, it is not a desirable situation to be together all the time if you are having trouble with someone at the office.
Familiarity
Excess of anything is bad. An employee’s over-familiarity with the office can also have some disadvantages. For example, too much familiarity can have undesirable consequences, such as the abuse of goodwill, while at the same time, an employee’s getting too used to the office can bring his/her hunger for new experiences to the surface. Doing the same job in the same place every day can push the person to try new opportunities and cause a loss of motivation.
Long-term contracts
Long-term contracts mean a binding contract of at least 3 years for offices. That is, if the contract owner terminates the contract within these 3 years, they have to pay a penalty. Well, those who do not want to pay fines cannot leave their office space. This situation may lead to undesirable results in unexpected situations (such as a global pandemic in today’s conditions) and may bring great losses.
We talked about traditional offices, let’s talk about today’s favorite shared offices – in other words, “co-working spaces”. But before we go into the review, let’s take a quick look at what a shared office is. A shared office is an office space shared by two or more businesses.
As with everything in life, shared offices have their advantages and disadvantages. Let’s examine the advantages:
Productivity
A shared office space refers to a space where employees generally feel more comfortable. Boring routines are less, flexible working principles are applied, which naturally supports productivity. Shared offices are built to support the motivation and productivity of employees with features such as air quality, lighting, and equipment used. It can make people more motivated to work with its interesting design elements and inspiring features. A relaxed atmosphere means less pressure and more productivity.
Change of environment
The change of people working with and sometimes the change of field supports the motivation to discover new things by making people more motivated. Employees who do not know what to expect the next day can turn this routine into a fun scenario.
Meeting different people, doing business with them in the same environment helps people’s social skills and provides the socialization process, as well as being very useful for networking. By interacting with different people, employees can broaden their horizons and seize new opportunities. Thus, their productivity and creativity increase, they contribute to themselves. You know what they say, four eyes see more than two!
Cost-effectiveness
The budgets of co-working spaces tend to be affordable. Office maintenance, bills are included in the price and you are not expected to pay any fees to stay organized. Office equipment, printer, internet, etc. are already in the office.
No extra fees
Unlike a traditional office, shared offices do not require extra fees. Employers can enjoy all the benefits of the office by paying a small amount. Otherwise, there will be many other expenses such as paying significant rent and bills each month, supplying office supplies, or repairing broken tools.
And here are the disadvantages:
Distractions
A shared office means less communication with your supervisor or mentor. Or, some employees may find shared offices distracting due to their nature. Meeting different people every day means not knowing what to be prepared for. This can be frustrating for people who have trouble stepping out of their comfort zone.
Less commitment
Employees working in a shared office instead of a traditional office may lose their commitment to the place where they work overtime. Being with everyone can push them to take advantage of different opportunities.
The table below has been prepared according to our thoughts on some examples. While comparisons may vary by industry, not every shared office or every traditional office has the same pros and cons. Let’s examine the table in detail:
| Shared Offices | Traditional Offices | |
|---|---|---|
| Control | No | Yes |
| Workplace relationships | – | – |
| Fees and expenses | Yes | No |
| Networking | Yes | No |
In traditional offices, you have more control over your workspace. Your place is familiar, your room or table is clear, you have a specific order and you do not have to share your space with someone. Even if you are sharing, that person is also specific. So there is no room for surprises. This is very important for someone who has trouble keeping up with new developments and owns her/his field.
The same is not valid for shared offices. Often your location may change, you may find it difficult to establish a certain order, and the people you work with may vary from day to day. However, you may also like to work like this, new people can inspire you. This is entirely up to the character of the person.
For example, lawyers may prefer to work with colleagues they know because they trust their word and may not want to consult others. But for designers, it may be the other way around, getting new ideas means gaining new perspectives.
Workplace relationships
The people who work every day in traditional offices are known. This could be good, or it could be bad. Again, it varies from person to person. If one is dissatisfied with his colleagues, seeing the same people every day will be torture; however, if she/he is satisfied with the working environment and the people she/he works with, this will not be a problem.
In shared offices, on the other hand, people can come together with different people to gain new experiences and brainstorm. Social people may prefer to work in shared offices, while more introverted people may not prefer it.
Fees and expenses
Shared offices are beating traditional offices here. Shared offices are, by their nature, much cheaper, profitable, and more affordable than traditional offices. Traditional offices may incur a new expense each month on top of the existing one. Office equipment breaks down, bills go up, anything can happen.
Networking
Shared offices give more positive results in terms of networking compared to traditional offices as they host different people. While people can expand their networks with new people they meet in shared offices, this is not possible in traditional offices.
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Originally posted on November 27, 2021 @ 2:15 pm
