[warrioraks]

We have been discussing about WFH and RTO on the forum in detail. Few links below. Now I am wondering if folks living away from office (let's say another city) have used co-working spaces? If yes, how was the environment and experience?

I am right now at my parents home for a month (festive season and all) where I am missing a proper WFH setup. Co-working space is a solution that comes to mind. I am seriously considering couple of days a week to cover important meetings. Also recommendations around North Delhi (Pitampura) are most welcome.


https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...ture-many.html (Work From Home (WFH): Is this the future for many?)

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...to-policy.html (What's your organization's 'Return To Office' (RTO) policy?)

[Bhupesh_2628]

In case, anyone is wondering what a Co-working space is, following links will be helpful:

1) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking

2) https://www.wework.com/ideas/workspa...t-is-coworking

[Samurai]

If you are just getting one desk for yourself, it is not really worth going there. Unless you have no facilities to work at home. You won't get anything more than a table, chair, phone and internet. No privacy for meetings either, unless you take the entire room for yourself or pay extra for meeting rooms.

However, if a bunch of colleagues want to work together, then it would make sense to rent a bunch of tables in a single room.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Samurai

If you are just getting one desk for yourself, it is not really worth going there. Unless you have no facilities to work at home. You won't get anything more than a table, chair, phone and internet. No privacy for meetings either, unless you take the entire room for yourself or pay extra for meeting rooms.
.

We use dedicated spaces within a co-working space, but are overflowing. So, we have lots of people working in the reception and other open co-working areas. So the quiet, peaceful dedicated space might not be existent.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Now I am wondering if folks living away from office (let's say another city) have used co-working spaces? If yes, how was the environment and experience?

I've tried several. The bigger ones have multiple locations across several cities and offer a uniform good experience. Smaller cities might have local spaces that vary in experience. Though I've always have had good experiences each time. Sometimes, even if you have a good home-office setup, it's a nice change to work out of a co-working space once in a while. You get to meet some interesting people across the industry as well.

A lot of my younger colleagues are pretty comfortable working out of coffee houses and cafes that have good connectivity. Though I still need an 'office' setup if I'm working outside of my home setup.

[warrioraks]

Originally Posted by Samurai

If you are just getting one desk for yourself, it is not really worth going there. Unless you have no facilities to work at home. You won't get anything more than a table, chair, phone and internet. No privacy for meetings either, unless you take the entire room for yourself or pay extra for meeting rooms.

Originally Posted by ajmat

We use dedicated spaces within a Co-Working Space but are overflowing. So, we have lots of people work in reception and other open co-working areas so the quiet, peaceful dedicated space might not be existent.

In that case, it seems better to take a neat and clean hotel room with a decent desk-chair setup. Even if that costs slightly more. Atleast there will be peace, privacy and a bed to nap

Originally Posted by am1m

I've tried several. The bigger ones have multiple locations across several cities and offer a uniform good experience. Smaller cities might have local spaces that vary in experience. Though I've always have had good experiences each time.
….
A lot of my younger colleagues are pretty comfortable working out of coffee houses and cafes that have good connectivity. Though I still need an 'office' setup if I'm working outside of my home setup.

Can you provide a few names on the bigger ones where your experience was good. Also what is the typical price range per day?

Working out of coffee houses is not an option for me. Another sign that I have crossed over to the non-young side of the population. Man 30s are hard!

[GTO]

My brother uses a WeWork closeby and is extremely happy with it. However, he only uses it for specific events (like when interviewing a lot of people). For regular use, nothing beats your own office, whether at home or commercial.

Co-working makes a lot of sense for startups, growing businesses, and corporates who need 200 - 300 desks immediately while their own big office is being renovated / constructed / relocated. Personally, I don't like noise, distractions or disturbances while I'm working, so a co-working space is not something I'd ever consider.

A close cousin is in the business with 4 locations. Doing reasonably well, still at the growth stage.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Can you provide a few names on the bigger ones where your experience was good. Also what is the typical price range per day?

91 Springboard, Wework, Awfis, Cowrks, Bhive (though I think they are only in Bangalore). I've tried the first 3. 2 of them in 2 different cities and the experience has been uniform. Day-pass (without access to meeting rooms) has ranged from 350-600 a day.

Originally Posted by GTO

Co-working makes a lot of sense for startups, growing businesses, and corporates who need 200 - 300 desks immediately while their own big office is being renovated / constructed / relocated.

Also makes sense if you just want to spend a couple of weeks in a new city and work during the day while getting the chance to explore the place in the evenings and on weekends.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Can you provide a few names on the bigger ones where your experience was good. Also what is the typical price range per day?

We use Regus, but on a yearly lease. Costs us 24K/month/table because of prime location. No idea about daily rate.

Originally Posted by warrioraks

Man 30s are hard!

You should try 50s... It is pretty cool.

[Jaguar]

Talking about workspaces, this popped up in my feed a couple of days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-kYt1lpnI

Originally Posted by Samurai

We use Regus, but on a yearly lease. Costs us 24K/month/table because of prime location. No idea about daily rate.

Have worked in Regus for a couple of years when our team was small. This was before WeWork and coworking became a buzzword, so I didn't even think of Regus as a coworking space before someone mentioned it. Ours was also a long-term lease and I don't know the exact costs but my observation was that it was expensive and every small item was charged exorbitantly. These were pre-3g days and their internet was slower than my home connection. Don't know how things are now, but I feel Regus is more suited for corporate clients and not necessarily for individuals looking to work for a day or two.

[Majumdarda]

My wife had to try a few Co-Working places, here in Pune and the experience is not that enriching.

At one of the places, during the initial days, there were no issues but then later on, as the popularity spread, absurd rules were introduced. For example, one is not allowed to bring home cooked food & is advised to consume that is available locally (they had a canteen sort of arrangement) with exorbitant rates and oily. I can understand that outside eatables are not allowed, but then a ban on home cooked food like roti-sabzi?

At another location, one has to first install a particular app and then only allowed to seat, if space is available. But internet connection does not work efficiently.

Co-Working, at least in Pune, has got a long way to establish proper standards.

[showboat]

I'm currently sitting in a co-working space and writing this. They definitely have their pros and cons and it's worth exploring based on your needs. There are big established companies and small local ones. Since you're looking for something more flexible for the short term I'd say check out myHQ.in. They have a Flexi pass for 5 days, 10 days etc. and you can use it in any of their partner locations (this includes WeWork, Cowrks, etc).

I have a home office and am an entrepreneur. This is basically my escape from the home office and all the activities at home (basically avoiding my 1-year-old who thinks my office door is his drum set). I was able to find a space that has private cabins and a good group of people already working there. Also gives me a chance to network and see people after being cooped up at home through covid. But I also come 4-6 times a month on days I need to work undisturbed, so have taken a plan that lets me be flexible.

[shobhit.shri]

I am running a pre-seed startup right now, which involves a lot of deep work and little money to spare. I use a co-working space weekly once for discussions with other teammates. In my experience, a home office for daily deep work and a co-working space for routine coordination and some human interaction is the perfect balance of cost and benefits.

[arpirocks]

I have had experience working in WeWork, BKC Mumbai for about a year. It was a great experience overall. There are some pros and cons which I experienced listed below:

- You get a great atmosphere, ready-to-use desks, office space, WiFi, Printers, meeting spaces, and whatnot
- Unless you are paying for dedicated office space, you might not get 100% privacy and guaranteed seating always (again, depends on the type of contract)
- WeWork used to have an Open Tap (beers, snacks, etc.) post 4 PM every day! NOTE: This was pre-pandemic, so don't blame me if you won't find such luxuries now
- They generally have a very well-maintained office space with all the amenities. Helpful and supportive staff
- Free snacks and a paid snack but don't expect a cafeteria (as I am told having a cafeteria needs a separate license and they and not interested in going for it)
- Very very limited parking space. Although, back then they had a tie-up with another startup that provided paid valet parking services (with a monthly subscription, an app to live track and summon vehicles, etc.)
- If you are a member, you are also free to work in any other WeWork location in the city which was a great plus.

[aamishdhingra]

Hey Everyone!

I just came across this post and as an owner of a Coworking space I'd feel that this industry has now got some opportunity to bloom and blossom.

I have my space in East Delhi and we are operational for over 4 years now, We've sustained a pandemic and its deadly three waves (ripple effect still on) and now we are heading into an economic slowdown.

Since my premises are owned, I am not having a nightmare to keep it operational and also catering to most of the corporates all across the globe (eg. Continental Tyres, Magna Automotive, House Of Diagnostics, Timesys International, Infoedge) we even launched a special Freeze Policy for our clients during the lockdown phases.

Now speaking of the business post pandemic the clients are most interested for freebies and for more and more discounts. The clients have forgotten to a large extent the logic of Quality and Feel over some amounts.