For the past 3-5 years, coworking spaces have been quite the rage in the remote/freelancer arena. Most businesses, however, have stayed largely out of the fray, with the exception of flexible, in-the-know small businesses.
Enter covid.
The pandemic left companies of all sizes scrambling to find suitable workspaces for their employees. Many were fine to just let people work from home, but other opted to purchase memberships at coworking spaces for their employees. This has been met with satisfaction, for the most part.
Personally, I’ve been a member of several coworking spaces over the past decade, performed marketing campaigns with multiple, and visited dozens of them in various countries. So for me, the answer is absolutely “yes” it’s totally worth the cost. But I wanted to get other opinions, so I reached out to some colleagues to ask them some questions and get their thoughts on whether a coworking space is worth the price.
I asked them the following:
#1. Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
#2. Rank the reasons why/why not.
#3. Elaborate on why you ranked the reasons the way you did.
Additionally, there was a mix of respondents. Some are active members of a coworking space, and others were members previously in their professional careers (but not currently). The answers were great!
Our Respondents
Nikki Nuckols
Founder of Doodle Dog and Click & Co – both boutique brand and web design agencies who help develop brands to connect with their audiences.
https://www.doodledog.com/
Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
“Yes.”
Rank the most important reasons you think so.
#1. Networking and collaboration
#2. Access to potential referrals/new business
#3. Fun atmosphere
#4. Access to amenities
#5. Affordable price
#6. I prefer to work away from home
When our team was all local, co-working was an excellent solution for a small group, that relied on networking and referrals to build our business base. We no longer pay for a coworking membership because our team is no longer local, everyone is spread out and we communicate through Slack and project management tools. This works for us, but I do miss the culture and environment of collaboration that comes with coworking.
Kevin Hess
Founder of Yellowbird Marketing, a digital marketing company based in Tampa Bay, Florida.
https://tampaseocompany.org/
Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
“Yes.”
Rank the most important reasons you think so.
#1. I prefer to work away from home
#2. Networking and collaboration
#3. Access to amenities
#4. Access to potential referrals/new business
#5. Affordable price
#6. Fun atmosphere
Value is all over the place with coworking. It’s essential that your membership provides flexibility to change on the go or month to month. Therefore affordability is not the top benefit for it to make sense to a business owner decision. Whether the working environment is better for you day to day or you are more productive away from home is the key.
Stephen Huerta
Stephen has been involved with company culture and engagement during his managerial time with EY, then with Goldman Sachs as an HR associate for global ventures. Currently, he is the CEO of Workify, an employee engagement platform.
https://www.getworkify.com/
Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
“Yes.”
Rank the most important reasons you think so.
#1. Networking and collaboration
#2. Affordable price
#3. Fun atmosphere
#4. Access to potential referrals/new business
#5. Access to amenities
#6. I prefer to work away from home
The power of co-working for me is about creating a space for human connection and collaboration. In a world that’s increasingly digitally, globally connected, it feels like human kind has never been more physically disconnected.
Geoff Walters
Geoff Walters is a freelance content marketer and entrepreneur.
Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
“Yes.”
Rank the most important reasons you think so.
#1. Networking and collaboration
#2. Fun atmosphere
#3. Access to potential referrals/new business
#4. Affordable price
#5. I prefer to work away from home
#6. Access to amenities
I mostly go to coworking spaces for social benefits. Working alone all the time is tedious, even for an introvert.
Susan Goodvin
Susan is the Co-Founder of Dreamers of Day, a digital agency specializing in building complex digital products.
https://www.dreamersofday.co/
Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
“Yes.”
Rank the most important reasons you think so.
#1. I prefer to work away from home
#2. Access to amenities
#3. Networking and collaboration
#4. Affordable price
#5. Access to potential referrals/new business
#6. Fun atmosphere
I enjoy having an office to work in outside of home. I also appreciate all the conveniences and amenities that coworking spaces offer like breakfast every morning and an in-building gym.
Mark Atli
Mark is the Co-Founder and Technology Director of Dreamers of Day, a digital product agency specializing in building complex digital products.
https://www.dreamersofday.co/
Do you think coworking spaces are worth the money?
“Yes.”
Rank the most important reasons you think so.
#1. I prefer to work away from home
#2. Networking and collaboration
#3. Access to potential referrals/new business
#4. Fun atmosphere
#5. Access to amenities
#6. Affordable price
Coworking spaces are a great option for remote workers in my opinion. Some of the things we as a company enjoy about coworking spaces are the ability to network with other professionals in our industry, access to shared resources and amenities, and a flexible work environment. Alternative options such as working from home or renting a traditional office space may be a better fit for some. But for us, working in a coworking space is an enjoyable alternative. Especially in the first years of starting Dreamers of Day.
Overwhelmingly Yes!
Our respondents were split between current members and previous members. However, what they all agreed on was the importance of networking and collaboration as a big reason why a coworking space is worth it.
In that same vein, we also see a high priority towards those that want a space to go to away from their home. I can definitely relate to this. Home space isn’t always the same as workspace to some people.
It was also interesting to see the lack of importance when it comes to the price. This tells me that the prices that the respondents have paid for in the past (or currently) are reasonable in relation to what they receive in return. Taking that even further, one could argue that the market for a coworking membership is reasonable across the board, since no one seems to have an issue with pricing, yet they go to different coworking spaces.
So, is coworking worth it? We can see that because of the value of collaboration, coworking is absolutely worth it. Not only is it a productive, yet fun environment, but the value of cross-pollination networking can reap massive benefits no matter what industry you’re in.
A Dissenting Opinion…
While it seems that overwhelmingly everyone loves the idea of coworking spaces and that they are definitely worth the money, I don’t want the discussion to be quite so one-sided. With that in mind, I’ve listed out some common reasons why I’ve heard people say that coworking isn’t worth it:
It’s too distracting. Similar to a typical office building, there are lots of people in a coworking space. Some people are very solitary workers, and for them, a coworking space can be massively distracting. Thus, limiting the number of productive work hours that they can get into a day.
There are only young people there. There are members of all kinds at your average coworking space, but yes, the age tends to skew younger. Developers, designers, marketers, etc, often make up a good portion of the members, and those positions are typically younger. That said, while they make up a smaller portion of members, I frequently see industries that are typically represented by older professionals. Architects, attorneys, and salespeople are all great examples of this.
“Too far to drive, I’ll just WFH.” For all its maturity now, coworking is still a young and growing industry. Because of this, some small-to-medium-sized cities may only have one or two coworking spaces, or even none! This forces workers in these markets to drive further to get to another coworking space. When this is the case, it’s usually easier to just stay home. I get that, and unfortunately, until smaller markets adopt coworking as a viable working condition, those empty pockets will probably remain.
Whatever is Right For You
Regardless of all the reasons it may make sense for someone else to be a member of a coworking space, do what gives you the most satisfying workday. Everyone’s situation is different!
Jared has worked remotely for 15 years in various marketing capacities, and has managed hundreds of marketing campaigns along the way. He has held freelance, agency, and in-house positions for companies large and small.
