Trying to decide where to work from? While working from home often seems like the easiest option, it’s important to keep your productivity levels in mind. After all, the more productive you are, the more successful you’ll be. This is why many professionals have been ditching their home offices in favor of coworking spaces. Many claim that a coworking space gives them a productivity boost that can’t be had when working from home, but is this really the case for the majority? Join Circle Hub as we explore whether productivity is higher when you work from home or work from a coworking space.
Focus
It goes without saying that focus is a huge part of productivity. The more focused you are on the tasks at hand, the faster you’ll be able to get them done. You’ll likely complete them to a higher standard too.
However, this is something that people often find difficult when working from home. There are so many distractions all around, especially if you have children or pets. Even without them, a quick glance around your home will probably remind you of all of those household chores that need to be done. This will keep dragging your focus away from the work you’re doing.
Coworking spaces, on the other hand, are designed to enhance focus. As soon as you walk into your coworking space, your brain will switch over to ‘work mode’. This will only intensify once you sit down at your desk. Distractions are far fewer at a coworking space too. Sure, you’ll have lots of people around you, but they’ll all be focusing on their own work. This is a great environment for encouraging you to focus on yours. Plus, if you happen to need some extra seclusion for a few hours, many coworking spaces have areas that can be booked for this. At Circle Hub, you could set yourself up in one of our private offices for a while if you need some isolation. After this, you can then reintegrate yourself into our shared workspace.
Business Tools and Amenities
If all you need to get your work done to a high standard is a desk and your laptop, then working from home will easily give you both of these. However, most professionals need more…
Let’s start with WiFi. If the connection that you have at home isn’t the most reliable, this could result in lagging uploads, buffering video calls, and other problems. This will only impact your productivity. Meanwhile, most coworking spaces offer high-speed and stable WiFi that will handle even large downloads without any delays.
Printing facilities are something else that many professionals need, even if not on a regular basis. In some ways, this makes things even trickier when working from home. You’ll have to shell out for a high-quality printer that’s not used very often. However, some coworking spaces, like Circle Hub, offer the use of state-of-the-art printing services to their members.
Many coworking spaces offer additional amenities to members too. From ergonomic furniture that would have cost you a fortune if you were to purchase the same for your home office, to a fully stocked kitchen where you can enjoy complimentary snacks and beverages, all of these perks tend to come together to give productivity levels an extra push.
Professional Image
Let’s talk about your professional image, which refers to how others, including prospective clients and customers, perceive you. While this may not be directly linked to productivity, having a solid professional image will undoubtedly bring more success your way. This will then give your productivity levels a boost.
As you can imagine, it’s not easy to achieve a credible image when you work from home. It will make it much more challenging to earn the trust of other professionals and businesses. Even though working from home has been gaining traction lately, using your home address on business correspondences isn’t the best look. Things can get complicated when you need to host a meeting too. It’s not ideal to bring clients to your home, meaning that meetings tend to be held in public spaces, which, again, isn’t the most professional way to do things.
When you work from a coworking space, it’s much easier to establish a reputable image. You’ll be able to meet with clients in a professional setting, such as the conference rooms available at Circle Hub, which are bookable by the hour.
The other services on offer at a coworking space can also help to improve your sense of credibility. Take Circle Hub’s Virtual Office service as an example. If you need a business address to add to your website, business cards, or anything else, you’ll be able to use our prestigious street address instead of your home address. When mail arrives for you, we’ll receive it and store it until you’re able to pick it up or arrange for it to be digitally forwarded. Either way, it will earn the trust of potential new clients much faster than if you were to use your home address, making it easier for you to be productive.
Flexibility
People often cite flexibility as a reason to work from home. Many don’t enjoy the traditional nine-to-five structure. Working from home means that you can do away with that and choose your own working hours. This can be a huge advantage when you’re trying to improve productivity. Everyone works best at different hours. Some are more productive in the mornings while others are more productive in the evenings. Having the flexibility to work during your most productive hours will, of course, make you more productive overall.
However, flexibility is something that coworking spaces offer too. In fact, this is one of the big benefits of signing up with a coworking space – you can decide when you work. At Circle Hub, we offer 24/7 access to our coworking spaces. This means, just like when working from home, you can work during your most productive hours.
This can be helpful when you work with clients in different time zones too. If you live with other people, you’ll have to be mindful about disturbing them if you work late into the night. However, at a coworking space, you can turn up at odd hours and get to work as normal, no matter what time it may be.
Work-Life Balance
It’s no secret that having a good work-life balance is crucial for both physical and mental health. However, many don’t realize that this can have a knock-on effect on productivity too. Research confirms that building a healthy work-life balance improves energy and focus, meaning that work can be carried out more efficiently.
While some people manage to establish a healthy work-life balance when working from home, the majority struggle. Without any set boundaries between your home life and your work life, it’s easy for lines to end up blurred. Both parts of your life will end up spilling over into each other. This can cause stress, burnout, decreased engagement, and poor morale, all of which will hinder your productivity. Again, studies confirm this, showing that working from home can significantly reduce productivity for all of those reasons.
On the other hand, if you have a physical location that you need to travel to each day before you start working, it becomes much easier to separate your work life from your home life. It gives your workday structure, which immediately reduces stress. You’ll also find it much easier to put your work mindset away for the day once you leave your coworking space. This will allow you to fully focus on the other aspects of your life.
Interaction With Others
While many loved the novelty of working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, this quickly wore off once they realized how isolating it could be. The feelings of loneliness that often accompany working from home slowly chip away at productivity, unless you put a lot of extra effort into socializing once you’re done working for the day.
Often, when people make the move from working from home to working from a coworking space, the social aspect is a bonus that they don’t usually expect. Coworking spaces offer a sense of community that can give you a significant mental boost, so much so that productivity surges.
Plus, it’s not only social bonds that you’ll be making at a coworking space. You’ll be able to expand your professional network too. Networking becomes so much easier when you’re surrounded by other motivated professionals. This is why coworking spaces are known for being great places to make new contacts.
The Commute
So far, coworking has been winning the battle for productivity. However, one area where coworking loses out is when it comes to the commute. When you work from home, your commute will likely involve just a few steps. There’s no way a coworking space can beat that, unless it happens to be next door to your home!
However, when you take into consideration all of the above benefits that a coworking space can offer, a short commute is a small price to pay. Yes, a long and frustrating commute can drastically inhibit productivity. However, choose the right coworking space and you won’t need to deal with that. Now that coworking has become such a popular concept, it will be easier than ever to find one at a location that’s convenient for you to access, whether by foot, public transport, or car.
Coworking for the Win!
If you want to improve your productivity levels, coworking, as opposed to working from home, is definitely the way to go. While working from home does have its own set of benefits, it’s the poorer choice overall when it comes to productivity and work efficiency. A coworking space, on the other hand, will send your productivity soaring while also bringing you many other perks that you won’t experience when working from home!
Want to find out more about the coworking spaces available from Circle Hub? Click here to get in touch with us and book a tour today!