Coworking: what it is, how it works and benefits

Coworking, literally “shared workspace,” is among the cornerstones of the Sharing Economy. In the context of the collaborative economy, where many goods and services are shared among professionals, workspace is also opening up for sharing.
The benefits are many and go far beyond keeping expenses down (renting a desk in a coworking space is significantly cheaper than renting an entire office).
Working in a coworking space, whether every day or just some, allows for networking, finding new collaborators, and bringing ideas together for shared projects. In addition, productivity increases and so does creativity.

When coworking was born and what are the Italian numbers

Although the origin of the term is rather recent, the origins of coworking are very old. As early as the 15th century, it was customary to share work spaces, limited, however, to the field of art: in the ateliers, artists collaborated with craftsmen and manufacturers to create small and large masterpieces all together.
Then, in 1995, the first shared office was born in Berlin: its name was C-Base and, in its spaces, IT professionals worked side by side. In the late 1990s, the term “coworking” began to be used. Credit is due to Berni Coven, an American game designer who first used it to describe a peer-to-peer working method.
The first real coworking space, however, was opened by computer engineer Brad Neuberg in 2005 in San Francisco.
Hired by a startup, Neuberg was looking for ways to be independent while still working in a space that had all the facilities of an office. That was how his Hat Factory was born.
From then on, coworking spread to different places in the United States and Europe. Today it is possible to find shared offices in the Balinese jungle, as on tropical beaches or in the city. At the end of January 2021, there were 779 coworking spaces in Italy.
These are places designed for those who work remotely and feel the need to engage with other professionals or, simply, to be in an office instead of at home.

How does coworking work?

Coworking is a shared workspace where anyone can rent a workstation. There are coworking facilities that provide actual offices, others that offer workstations with desks, outlets and USB connections.
Most coworking facilities consist of a large open space with multiple, shared or independent workstations. Those who rent a desk can count on the use of Wi-Fi, but also the use of printers, scanners, pens, pencils, and so on. Several coworking facilities, especially in large cities, also house bars, relaxation areas and corners with video games and board games to encourage socialization.
Workstations can be rented by the hour or by the day, with prices ranging from €15 to €35 per day.

The benefits of coworking

Working in a coworking space brings with it several advantages. First, it allows you to break out of the isolation of working from home or in a private office: in a coworking space you work side by side with people doing very different jobs, resulting in the opportunity to socialize, establish partnerships and see your business grow.
Second, productivity increases. Working from home can be distracting: you regularly get up to do chores or have a snack, and very often, you do not have a desk and find yourself working on the living room table or perhaps on the peninsula in the kitchen. Like productivity, creativity also grows: comparing oneself with other professionals, whether in one’s own or a different field, opens the mind. And it trains lateral thinking.
Finally, among the advantages of coworking is cost containment: the very small daily fee includes everything. And the expense is far less than the rental costs of an actual office.