Why Do People Thrive In Coworking Spaces?
Coworking is a unique, difficult-to-describe work experience. But, for many of us, coworking is a way to thrive at work. We are inspired by the different people around us, we can be flexible in when we work, and the social atmosphere is energizing.
The Harvard Business Review wrote a fascinating description of why coworking spaces help professionals thrive, relying on interviews and psychology studies.
Here is the introduction to their article:
There seems to be something special about coworking spaces. As researchers who have, for years, studied how employees thrive, we were surprised to discover that people who belong to them report levels of thriving that approach an average of 6 on a 7-point scale. This is at least a point higher than the average for employees who do their jobs in regular offices, and something so unheard of that we had to look at the data again.
It checked out. So we were curious: What makes coworking spaces – defined as membership-based workspaces where diverse groups of freelancers, remote workers, and other independent professionals work together in a shared, communal setting – so effective? And are there lessons for more traditional offices?
To find out, we interviewed several coworking space founders and community managers, and surveyed several hundred workers from dozens of coworking spaces around the U.S. A regression analysis following our survey revealed three substantial predictors of thriving:
Read the full article at the Harvard Business Review!
