How to Tell When You’ve Outgrown a Coworking Space

Depending on your industry, office size and the services you offer, your office will have different needs and requirements. If you’re working out of a coworking or flex space, and your business is growing rapidly, you may find that this arrangement is no longer functional. As you grow and expand, it is important to assess whether or not you need additional space and resources.

If your team is fully optimizing your use of the space (and in need of more desks, resources and work areas) it may make sense for your business to move into a larger location. While coworking spaces offer their own benefits, you may find that your employees’ needs can no longer be accommodated in a shared office. Here are some reasons why it may be time to consider moving to your own office.

What is coworking? Coworking is the use of an office by people who may not work for the same company. Coworking spaces are often used by start-ups or those who are self employed. Coworking spaces may offer desk booking in addition to shared equipment. Additionally, many benefit from shared ideas and knowledge from those in the same space.

You’re tired of sharing overhead costs

In a coworking arrangement, where many businesses work together in a rented space (and therefore share energy costs with other companies), you may find it hard to control what your overheard will be month-to-month. Even after installing a smart thermostat, like Nest, it can be difficult to control the overall amount of money being spent on electricity, heat and other resources when these are distributed among multiple companies. While sharing the bill may be an appealing perk, it can actually prove difficult to budget long term if your company’s overhead fees are being influenced by the activities of non-employees sharing the space. If you’d rather retain control over your budget, it may be time to consider moving to your own private location.

Your office space is too crowded

As a facility manager, you want to make sure that every square foot of your office is being put to good use. But once you’re at capacity, particularly in a coworking space, where you have to consider the needs of other workers, it can be difficult to accommodate new resources or team members. Using space management software, you can visualize your current floor plan in real time and experiment with better layouts. Collecting holistic data on your office space will allow you to make informed decisions that drive your bottom line.

If you find that no matter how you configure your current office, you cannot fit new employees into the space, it may be time to find more spacious options. While sharing with other new, exciting companies may be appealing, as soon as your space starts to feel limiting, you should assess whether or not a private office space would better suit your company. After all, in a coworking space you are restricted by the rules and demands of other companies, while in your own office, you have ultimate control over the layout and usage of the entire space.

You want to invest in your own company resources

Using an inventory system, you can track which company resources are over or under used. If you find that printer and copier utilization rates are high, or certain conference and break rooms are constantly in demand, a coworking space may be the wrong arrangement for you. Particularly if you plan on investing in important company resources, it may be time to move into an office where you are no longer sharing printers, break rooms and other assets with outside companies. Review your request management data—do you find that many of your employees are asking for more communal space for break out chats and brainstorming sessions?

Moving to your own office can give you the control over your company resources and allow you to best use the space towards the goals of your company.

When moving into your own office, facility managers should take inventory of the resources they will be bringing with them, and the resources that they will need to invest in. Tracking the tools that are most important to your team is an essential step in making sure your new space is still functional and driving productivity.

You want to move away from a flexible working structure

While there has been a trend towards flexible working structures, you may find that keeping your employees in-house can be more beneficial to your bottom line. As major companies have discovered in recent years—including Google and IBM—keeping employees in the office can help workplaces overcome internal communication problems and make sure everyone is able to communicate and stay on-task. While some remote working policies can be beneficial to a company, team proximity is a huge benefit of working from a central office. If your company is reaching the next stage of its business growth, having your own office can be an important way to ensure all your employees are informed and united on all fronts.

If your office has abandoned traditional 9-5 hours in lieu of a flexible workplace culture, on the other hand, having your own office will allow you to run a more functional hot-desking system. The transition to your own office space may help encourage employees to come work in-house and to feel a part of the larger team during this exciting time of growth. Using your space management tool, you can easily visualize how many workstations your company needs, and whether or not a new space can fit these requirements.

With the right space and resource management tools, you can assess whether your company has outgrown its coworking space. Read more on how OfficeSpace can help your business make informed move and change decisions.

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