Coworking vs. Shared Office vs. Hotdesking vs. Private Office Space: Which one best suits your business needs?

Has the time come for you to make the business decision to move out of your home office and into an office space? It can be overwhelming as an owner of a start-up to think about moving out of the comfort of your own home. It’s completely understandable. When you are working out of your home office, expenses are usually kept at a minimum with the added value of being able to claim back your business expenses, which usually goes hand-in-hand with some of your personal expenses.  When working from an office space, your expenses will inevitably rise. With the rise in your expenses comes both direct and indirect value and benefits to your business. This is why it is so vital to ensure you choose a space which best suits the needs of your business.
The first and perhaps most important question to ask yourself when looking for an office space is why? Once you know why you want to move into an office space you can move onto what type of space best suits the needs of your business.
In today’s sharing economy, there are many businesses which offer space for entrepreneurs, freelances, and small business owners etc. The question you need to answer is whether you are looking for a coworking space, a hotdesk, a shared office or a private office space. It’s important to know the difference between the four before you make a decision. Many of these businesses ask for a signed lease or bond and have a cancellation policy, so you want to ensure you are making the right decision before you commit to anything.
Each of the aforementioned terms interlinks in some ways. The difference is what you get out of them. We are here to help you make sense of the differences between the four.
Coworking Space:
Coworking spaces come in all shapes and sizes. What they all have in common is the emphasis on collaboration and networking. It is all about fostering your community and creating business opportunities through new networks. The fit out and services are all focused on the businesses within the space. They are specifically designed to maximise the needs of the businesses within the space and the user experience. For example: at Inspire Cowork, we have created 5 meeting rooms. Our goal in doing this is that if at any time a business within the space has an impromptu meeting, they have a professional space to conduct their business.
Shared Office:
A shared office is a concept that allows companies who own or manage an office space with redundant space, to share or rent the workspace to smaller companies looking for flexible workspace.
The shared office gives you the flexibility, convenience, and cost savings that a coworking space also provides. The real difference is that you’re essentially a guest in an already established business. You are subleasing an area within their space, rather than joining a space which is creating a community which encourages collaboration, networking, and productivity.
Hotdesking:
Hotdesking has become popular in larger corporates and is getting a bad name from employees loosing their dedicated space, sometimes making people feel displaced and missing consistency. Unfortunately the popular open plan layout of many coworking spaces make people think a coworking space only has “hotdesking”, this is not true. Coworking spaces generally have a mixture of private offices, dedicated desks and hotdesking to cater for the wide variety of needs.
Private Office Space:
A private office space is just that, an office which is private. As one would expect, a private office is more expensive than the other shared workspace options. There are pros and cons to utilizing a private office space and it all really comes down to what will best suit your start up business. You have more privacy and space which can lead to higher productivity, however in saying that, it can be quite lonely where you don’t feel part of a team which can lead to procrastination and unproductivity.
At Inspire Cowork, we understand that some businesses need a private office space due to their line of work. Due to this, we have created 64 offices within the space so you can have the best of both worlds. You will join a community which is built around collaboration, networking, and productivity with the added benefit of being in your own private studio.
Inspire Cowork is the Sutherland Shire’s largest coworking space. We have built a community based on collaboration, trust, and accountability whilst creating an environment which is both productive and fun for our members.  We require no lease, no bond and you have the flexibility of canceling at any time. If you are in and around the Sutherland Shire, why not give us a call and check out the space? Give us a call. We look forward to meeting you.