Coworking spaces were meant to be a place where freelancers or remote workers could work together or on their own. But now several companies are cultivating coworking spaces for their own employees. A curious case in point is telecom company Orange based in France, where many of its full-time employees operate out of VBN, which is a coworking space. About half the employees at VBN are Orange’s. This has been observed to be an excellent method of talent management and employee engagement due to the collaboration that takes place in working with people from a diverse set of companies. Companies from different industries such as telecom, technology, automotive and insurance are jumping into the fray. Far beyond mere hipness measures, this is something that has brought genuine business benefits. There are two kinds of such company curated coworking spaces- Open Houses and Campsites. Open houses are where other companies may also work with few restrictions, while campsites are meant primarily for the mother company, with vacant space left open to the others. Companies are jointly exploring both the models. SAP for example has an open house named Hana Haus located in Palo Alto, while in nearby Silicon Valley, they run App Haus which is a campsite. The reasons for exploring such spaces broadly fall under three categories- transformation, business innovation and future-proofing. Before jumping into the fray, companies need be clear about the goals for entering in to this sort of arrangement. They need to have the right community managers in place to oversee things. The design is important, but there need not be overthinking on this matter.

Source:https://hbr.org/2018/09/why-companies-are-creating-their-own-coworking-spaces?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert_activesubs&utm_content=signinnudge&referral=00563&deliveryName=DM14882

Uploaded Date:16 October 2018