The differences between traditional offices and coworking spaces

Coworking offices have become the newest trend in alternative workstyles and are slowly fading out traditional offices of yesteryear. While some may see the two as offering the same amenities aside of flexible working hours, they differ in many ways.

It is true that both coworking spaces and traditional offices come equipped with desks, chairs, computers, and other typical office amenities, but layout plays a huge differentiating role. Traditional offices typically consist of cubicles, private offices, and a kitchen. Coworking spaces greatly enforce networking, so they offer many communal and gaming areas, as well as vibrant designs to encourage creativity and collaboration.

The community in a traditional office setting is typically established by the time you join a team, so there is very little transformation which may cause you to conform to the culture. Coworking hubs share this sentiment of fixed culture, but with workers coming and going, the space has the opportunity to cycle through fresh faces and ideas.

Typical offices function on working towards a higher position. Until then, workers work for their superiors in hopes of someday receiving a promotion.

Coworking hubs work on a more even level. Since the spaces mostly consist of freelancers and startups who don’t place high in a company, getting higher positions take different tactics rather than seniority.

Traditional offices rarely have networking opportunities, which may or may not come up depending on the company you work for. Typically, you will be working with colleagues on similar tasks, which limits the possibility of collaborating with other like-minded professionals.

In stark contrast, coworking spaces make it a point to create an environment where entrepreneurs and other professionals can network with one another, regardless of your line of work.

Scheduling at traditional spaces is pretty restricted and can often be synonymous with the nine-to-five lifestyle. Coworking hubs allow great flexibility and extended access hours to accommodate workers of various lifestyles.

Despite this, some workers enjoy the organization and structure of a company dictating their schedules that allows them to be more productive.