American Public Media’s Marketplace looks at the growing trend of co-working, a workspace-sharing approach that is popping up across the country. (It seems a natural for those of us who share apartments and commute to work using bike-sharing programs.)
More people are ditching the office as we know it, and it’s not just freelancers and cash-poor start-ups that can’t afford the rent. Within the next three years it’s estimated that almost 40 percent of the global workforce will work remotely. That’s fueling the growth of companies that offer a whole new kind of office space, on demand.
James Cohane is one of more than 40 million Americans who work outside an office. “I’m consulting with a start-up that’s actually based down in New York,” Cohane says. He recently moved to Boston and, at first, he tried working from home. “There’s a lot of distractions there plus it’s kinda depressing, and I’m infinitely more productive here than I am at home,” he explains.
For Cohane, “here” is a desk at Oficio (pictured), one of a handful of new co-working sites in Boston. The space looks like an art gallery with its high ceilings, white walls, and bright natural light from a huge wall of windows.
Oficio clients range from freelance photographers to a guy who sells private jets. The co-working concept dates back to the late ’90s, but that was before everyone had cell phones, laptop sand tablets. Now wifi is everywhere, too, and hundreds of co-working locations have opened around the country.
Read or listen to full story: (Marketplace.org)