The Economic & Environmental Benefits of Coworking Spaces

Since the significant uptake of hybrid working worldwide, the economic and environmental advantages of coworking spaces are being realised.

Coworking spaces are revolutionizing the way we work, offering flexibility and community connections that offer numerous benefits to entrepreneurs and businesses alike.

These collaborative hubs aren’t just benefitting people, however. They are having a far broader impact, affecting the environment and wider economy through the sharing of resources and knowledge.

In this article, we discuss the economic and environmental advantages of coworking spaces and how they are transforming the world in which we live.

Reducing Carbon Emissions and Pollution

According to Statista, “The United States is one of the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters and a major contributor to human-caused climate change.” And transportation is one of America’s biggest causes of carbon emissions. However, coworking spaces are bringing change!

One of the biggest advantages of coworking spaces is how they can reduce carbon emissions. They achieve this by providing accessible workspaces located in city centers that are conveniently near public transport, walking paths, and bike lanes. This accessibility reduces the need for commuting by car, thereby reducing carbon emissions and saving people time and money on transportation.

Reducing the Creation of Waste

Coworking spaces have excellent waste management solutions in place that significantly reduce waste. Many coworking spaces require people to take their rubbish home with them in order to maintain a clean and tidy environment. However, others have waste management policies that encourage collaborative recycling efforts.

Coworking spaces also tend to be more sustainable - using paper cups for their water machines and hand driers in the toilet facilities. They also have experts who take care of their IT recycling when computers, scanners, and printers are no longer working. This ensures all electronics are expertly and correctly recycled and that proper data destruction guidance is adhered to.

All of these efforts contribute to the reduction of waste, protecting the environment and reducing pollution.

Supporting Local Businesses

Coworking spaces tend to be located in city centres and, as such, provide a crucial role in supporting and catering to local businesses. This is essential for economic growth and sustainable urban development.

According to The National Library of Medicine, “by facilitating interaction and collaboration between users, coworking spaces offer support throughout the business life cycle and identify themselves as local accelerators of entrepreneurship and talent development within their local environments.”

By providing a convenient and affordable space for entrepreneurs and businesses to work from, coworking spaces promote healthy, sustainable economic growth. They also contribute to local businesses through the organisation of community events and initiatives that foster a sense of community and social cohesion.

Encouraging Resource Sharing

Coworking spaces are built on the concept of sharing and community, both of which offer significant environmental benefits. 

Because coworking spaces are shared, they typically provide shared office equipment, such as scanners, meeting rooms, printers, and computers. Allowing for the sharing of resources in this way reduces waste production and promotes circular economy principles.

However, it’s not just physical resources that are shared! Coworking spaces also attract a diverse group of entrepreneurs and businesses, providing ample opportunity for connections to be made and knowledge to be shared. Whether an entrepreneur is lacking industry contacts or a business is looking for an experienced freelancer, coworking spaces connect people and support collaboration.

Offering Energy Efficiency

According to The Department of Energy, “the average number of kilowatt hours per square foot for a commercial building is approximately 22.5.” The primary cause of this energy usage is: heating, lighting, ventilation, refrigeration, hot water, cooling, and plug-loads. Needless to say, it’s a lot and it can get very expensive!

Coworking spaces offer a different solution. When you share a coworking space, you reduce your energy output. In fact, the EPA report suggests that sharing a workspace with three or more companies reduces energy consumption by almost 30%. This is significant for American businesses as, according to data shared in the report, more than 76% of all electricity use in the U.S. is used to provide comfortable, well-lit commercial buildings.

One of the biggest energy-efficient advantages of coworking spaces is the reduced financial and environmental cost of your energy consumption. Sharing a space and its resources has significant benefits that extend far beyond the individual.

Flexibility that Meets Workers’ Needs

An increasing number of American workers are demanding hybrid work that provides flexibility and better meets their needs. In fact, according to Forbes, “87% of Americans want to work in a flexible environment [and] 62% of workers reported being more productive when working remotely.” So, it is no surprise that coworking spaces have grown significantly in popularity.

Coworking spaces provide workers with the opportunity to ‘book a slot’ at a time that works for them. This means that as long as there is space available, workers can work when it suits them.

What’s more, for workers needing a long-term solution, many coworking spaces offer contracts that range from month-to-month arrangements to yearly (or more!) This allows people to work in a way that suits them and fits with their schedule. It offers flexibility and scalability and gives complete control to the individual. This means people are happier and more productive, which in turn means good things for their professional trajectory!

Affordability

Affordability is something that’s important to everyone. However, particularly freelancers and entrepreneurs. These workers are often faced with cash flow difficulties in the beginning that can make hiring an office space especially difficult! And forget working from a coffee shop. All that cake and coffee you end up having out of guilt for taking up space isn’t worth the price, either.

Thankfully, coworking spaces offer affordable and flexible solutions. The fees attached to coworking spaces are significantly lower than traditional leases and provide an affordable solution to those just starting out. 

Coworking spaces also provide a great option for small businesses needing a space to work from that doesn’t break the budget. And with the furniture, utilities, internet, and maintenance all included, there are significant cost advantages of coworking spaces on the wallet that allow small businesses to put their money to good use.

Wider Economic Benefit

Due to all the reasons above, the economic advantages of coworking spaces combine beautifully with the environmental benefits. By sharing resources, individuals and businesses can operate far more cost-efficiently. This provides ample opportunity for business growth and scalability. 

For example, the numerous advantages of coworking spaces are that they promote startup growth, contribute to local businesses, establish community connections, reduce the financial burden of maintaining an office space, and free up essential resources for important investments. 

All of this allows businesses, new and established, to save their financial resources and apply them to things that matter. For example, hiring talent, investing in their teams, supporting charities and environmental initiatives, providing intern opportunities, offering training days, and supporting staff in all the ways they need. To put it simply, all these money-saving advantages of coworking spaces allow businesses to focus on the things that matter to them and the people they work with.

In Summary

As the coworking trend continues its upward trajectory, we are delighted by how much good has come from these new working arrangements. We hope this article has helped highlight some of these benefits and we hope it gets you thinking about your own working arrangements and whether you could be doing anything differently.