Work in the office VS Work in coworking for a small team
My name is Leonid, I already wrote on Habré a review of cowards in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Partly, the review went to the side of the difference between freelancer work in coworking and at home. Now I want to compare exactly the office and coworking for a small team. At the moment I am working on a content site related to discounts and sales (unfortunately, the name is too early to say). Not to be confused with the coupon site, in our case, we only inform people about interesting promotions, and do not sell coupons. So, I have gathered a small team, 4 people, including me. For some time we rented a separate office, and then moved to coworking. I want to share my thoughts on the difference of these formats with specific examples.
To begin with, when you already have a team, options with cafes, anti-cafes and apartments disappear immediately. At least it is difficult to talk, and in the apartment not to sit free together. First of all, I rented an office. The project is based in Petersburg. For 4 people, I decided that the optimum would be somewhere 40-50 meters. Immediately faced with the fact that in the new beautiful buildings almost no small offices. As a result, I found an office in the business center “Troitsky” in the center at 42 meters for 42,000 p. Internet was added to this, drinking water came out under 50. Frankly, it was a very dull place.
In addition to my main tasks, I had to take on the role of an office manager. The current Internet was no good, had to change the provider, lost a week, and this is after the settlement. How many times I had to go to the administration myself to call the cleaning woman — I don’t remember anymore, despite the fact that we paid separately for cleaning. In general, some domestic issues took a lot of time, and all the time I was thinking how to delegate this. Yes, and had to pay in advance for 2 months. In the neighboring offices there were some insurance companies, the names of which I had never heard, some service centers, in general, it was always uncomfortable in the corridor, especially when their clients came.
Do not even say that for such money could find better, it is simply not possible. Shoveled everything - either more expensive, or not in the center, or a class C building and also not in the center. The main advantage that we have convinced ourselves - “but its own separate place” - in the end turned out to be an empty sound. We brought some furniture (wardrobe, kettle, microwave, hanger) and eventually our place turned into four tables and that's it. 42 meters is not so much as it seemed at first. And most importantly, no sense of IT, innovation, etc. We turned into some kind of sharashkin cantor in the attic. The worst thing, it is reflected in the state of health. The drive and interest in work began to disappear, the guys' productivity deteriorated for no apparent reason - this worried me the most.
')
And then I decided to drastically change the office and took 4 seats in co-working. In St. Petersburg, I know two large full-fledged coworking - this is the Action Zone and 404 Hub. I was in both and imagined how the workflow in these coworkings looks like. If you are working alone, you may like the Action Zone more, it’s modern, creative - mostly singles work, and the landing is specific, the places are randomly scattered around the perimeter. If you work in a team of at least two people, then you will not find a better place than 404 Hub.
As I said, it was important for me to put the team, so I rented a place in the 404 Hub. Compared with the office in the business center, this is just heaven and earth, the difference is enormous. I understand that for one person coworking can be costly, but for a team of 2.3.4 people, taking an office is an epic fail. First, four places cost me 36,000 rubles (including the Internet, a water cooler, cleaning, no deposits). We had all the necessary amenities, a kitchen in two steps, a stylish chat room, which we used constantly, no one limited (I understand so far freely, then 1 hour a day, and even if no one is booking, even sit there all day ). Our places were separated by partitions - so that we sat in “our zone” and there was no sense of public space.
But the most important, indisputable advantage is that around us there were a lot of people like us. These are 25-30 year olds who are engaged in web projects. We found ourselves in our get-together - and it was very nice. Not all are super sociable, most of them came to work, but it’s still a huge plus when you have someone to chat with in your spare time, and even with a colleague.
Another very significant moment is Monday morning. This is the feeling that completely changes the perception of the workflow. Let me explain, when you come after the weekend to a small room, where you sit with four of the same people, you have to somehow encourage yourself to tune in to work. And when you come to a huge space, where a lot of people slowly gather and start working and socializing on something, it automatically motivates you, as it immediately sets a cheerful mood. I recommend to everyone.
To begin with, when you already have a team, options with cafes, anti-cafes and apartments disappear immediately. At least it is difficult to talk, and in the apartment not to sit free together. First of all, I rented an office. The project is based in Petersburg. For 4 people, I decided that the optimum would be somewhere 40-50 meters. Immediately faced with the fact that in the new beautiful buildings almost no small offices. As a result, I found an office in the business center “Troitsky” in the center at 42 meters for 42,000 p. Internet was added to this, drinking water came out under 50. Frankly, it was a very dull place.
In addition to my main tasks, I had to take on the role of an office manager. The current Internet was no good, had to change the provider, lost a week, and this is after the settlement. How many times I had to go to the administration myself to call the cleaning woman — I don’t remember anymore, despite the fact that we paid separately for cleaning. In general, some domestic issues took a lot of time, and all the time I was thinking how to delegate this. Yes, and had to pay in advance for 2 months. In the neighboring offices there were some insurance companies, the names of which I had never heard, some service centers, in general, it was always uncomfortable in the corridor, especially when their clients came.
Do not even say that for such money could find better, it is simply not possible. Shoveled everything - either more expensive, or not in the center, or a class C building and also not in the center. The main advantage that we have convinced ourselves - “but its own separate place” - in the end turned out to be an empty sound. We brought some furniture (wardrobe, kettle, microwave, hanger) and eventually our place turned into four tables and that's it. 42 meters is not so much as it seemed at first. And most importantly, no sense of IT, innovation, etc. We turned into some kind of sharashkin cantor in the attic. The worst thing, it is reflected in the state of health. The drive and interest in work began to disappear, the guys' productivity deteriorated for no apparent reason - this worried me the most.
')
And then I decided to drastically change the office and took 4 seats in co-working. In St. Petersburg, I know two large full-fledged coworking - this is the Action Zone and 404 Hub. I was in both and imagined how the workflow in these coworkings looks like. If you are working alone, you may like the Action Zone more, it’s modern, creative - mostly singles work, and the landing is specific, the places are randomly scattered around the perimeter. If you work in a team of at least two people, then you will not find a better place than 404 Hub.
As I said, it was important for me to put the team, so I rented a place in the 404 Hub. Compared with the office in the business center, this is just heaven and earth, the difference is enormous. I understand that for one person coworking can be costly, but for a team of 2.3.4 people, taking an office is an epic fail. First, four places cost me 36,000 rubles (including the Internet, a water cooler, cleaning, no deposits). We had all the necessary amenities, a kitchen in two steps, a stylish chat room, which we used constantly, no one limited (I understand so far freely, then 1 hour a day, and even if no one is booking, even sit there all day ). Our places were separated by partitions - so that we sat in “our zone” and there was no sense of public space.
But the most important, indisputable advantage is that around us there were a lot of people like us. These are 25-30 year olds who are engaged in web projects. We found ourselves in our get-together - and it was very nice. Not all are super sociable, most of them came to work, but it’s still a huge plus when you have someone to chat with in your spare time, and even with a colleague.
Another very significant moment is Monday morning. This is the feeling that completely changes the perception of the workflow. Let me explain, when you come after the weekend to a small room, where you sit with four of the same people, you have to somehow encourage yourself to tune in to work. And when you come to a huge space, where a lot of people slowly gather and start working and socializing on something, it automatically motivates you, as it immediately sets a cheerful mood. I recommend to everyone.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/243381/
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