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Over the last couple of years, people have talked at great lengths about the benefits of co-working spaces and collaborative employee efforts. And truly, according to recent surveys, 75% of employees consider teamwork and collaboration as being important while 80% of companies apply collaborative tools to optimize their business operations. Keeping this in mind, it is very surprising that human resources departments, whose sole purpose is to lay foundations for this collaboration and higher productivity still, to a large extent, find their strengths in individual efforts anchored by traditional work environments.
Obviously, this situation leaves a lot of room for improvement. So, let us take a look at a couple of compelling reasons why your HR staff should put more focus on fun and teamwork and relocate to co-working premises.
Happier employees are more productive employees
Employees that attain high morale in their workplaces are more likely to be loyal to their organizations and, traditionally, score much higher productivity at the workplace. Collaborative spaces and work environments have a tremendous impact on these satisfaction levels. To back up these claims with numbers, we will refer to the 2018 stats saying that 84% of people who use co-working spaces are more engaged and motivated, while 76% of people who have tried this concept plan to use the co-working spaces for the long term. All these things will affect your turnover rates and costs in a very positive manner.
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Employees get more job control
In most cases, third-party collaborative space vendors allow their clients to visit the premises whenever they want, enjoy the amenities offered by the host, and do the job at their own tempo. All these things could be successfully utilized by your organization. But be aware that these laid-back co-working spaces don’t go well with tight schedules and micromanaging. On the other hand, if you can allow your human resources time more breathing room and looser deadlines, they will certainly appreciate the opportunity to take more job control, and leverage their personal productivity peaks in a friendly and comforting environment.
Increased work flexibility
Most co-working facilities allow their users to visit the premises 24/7, 365 days a year. Trying to emulate this level of work flexibility within your premises would take a lot of resources and probably provide diminished results. What are you getting from this deal? For instance, an increasing number of present-day companies rely on the overseas workforce to stay profitable. Managing this workforce efficiently means you need to be in constant touch with a third-party global employer of record and be quick to react to events enveloping all around the globe. Collaborative spaces do allow this level of flexibility.
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Widened social networks for a varied expertise
Co-working spaces are usually visited by a variety of young professionals working in dozens of different branches. This fact benefits your organization and your human resources team in two ways. First, if they encounter some problem that demands expertise from some other business area, your team members will be able to reach out and seek free help from experienced professionals. Second, this is a great opportunity for expanding a professional social network that gives your company more clout. More than half of people who work in these environments say they like to socialize with other members outside the work.
Cost-effective scalability
When considering the proposition of collaborative spaces most business owners are considered by the costs that come associated with this arrangement. However, to assess these expenses in full honesty we will have to consider the costs of renting the additional offices for your HR team members, paying the energy and utility bills, as well as providing the office supplies and furniture. Competing with other co-working amenities puts an even greater strain on the company’s budget. Paying the co-working space solves this problem with ease and grace while offering a great deal of scalability you don’t get with on-site premises.
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Better work-life balance translated to stronger satisfaction
Anyone with an entrepreneurial mindset knows just how crucial the work-life balance can be for proper personal and professional development. If you want your human resources team members to thrive at the workplace, you need to allow them to strike that balance. With that in mind, we have to point out that collaborative workspaces do seem to present a perfect middle ground between tightly controlled offices and telecommuting. Your HR team members are allowed to complete the tasks at their own pace, but they have the ability to leave their homes and work in a productive and stimulating environment.
We hope these few compelling arguments gave you more reasons to consider moving your HR team outside the premises and allow it to complete the pending tasks from the comfort of the present-day third-party co-working spaces. These environments are designed to bring young professionals together and allow them to utilize their skillsets in the most efficient possible manner. Why would you constrain then your HR staff to operating models that are slowly but steadily becoming obsolete?
