Nowadays, it’s easier to get distracted and demotivated with your tasks or job, especially if you’re working in the wrong place. Freelancers, remote workers, or self-employed entrepreneurs who don’t have their own proper and formal office yet may opt to work in their kitchen, couch, or bedroom. As comfy as these places may sound, they’re not exactly conducive to productivity and are much more prone to distractions. That’s when coworking spaces come into the picture.
What’s a coworking space?
A coworking space is a shared workplace intended to accommodate different workers and professionals who don’t necessarily work in the same field or company. This place brings workers from various organizations and industries to work and do their daily routines together. Depending on their needs, they can choose whether to work independently or collaboratively on one table. Furthermore, many workers also claim that they get to socialize with other professionals and expand their network because of the coworking environment. (1)
Typically, a coworking space is equipped with high-speed internet access, table arrangements, a socializing area, and conference rooms. While a coworking space provides a spacious workplace for people who don’t have their own offices, it can also be prone to distractions and disruptions. This can be troublesome for workers who can’t focus well when exposed to crowded places or surrounded by people they barely know. (1)
How to create a productive coworking environment?
Creating a productive coworking environment is essential to ensure that the workplace can accommodate all kinds of workers along with their specific needs. Enumerated below are ten ways you can create a coworking space that promotes productivity and ensures all workers will return to it again and again:
Provide adequate lighting
One of the crucial aspects of a productive workspace is adequate lighting. Regardless of what kind of job you do, access to proper lighting is essential to ensure you can perform your best. Otherwise, a dim or poor light setting could make it difficult to finish your tasks, make you feel tired, and, eventually, make you feel demotivated to do or finish anything.
Preferably, a coworking environment should have access to natural light. You can achieve this by incorporating glass windows or installing skylights that allow more sunlight to illuminate the interiors. (2)
In addition to providing good lighting, natural sunlight is also known to provide vitamin D, which is beneficial in fighting off fatigue and balancing your moods throughout the day. Meanwhile, if you only have limited access to natural lighting, you can use unique lamps or light fixtures to add vibrance into your coworking space. (2)
Have a nice entryway
A well-designed entryway can help make an excellent first impression of your coworking space. Although this may not directly affect a person’s productivity, a beautiful entrance or lobby area that exudes credibility and professionalism may help professionals feel motivated to do their best once they’re inside the facility.
So, be innovative with your entryway by adding live plants, a welcome rug or carpet, or add an artistic backdrop. (3)
Create different spaces for different needs
Some people thrive best when working on quiet, independent workspaces. Meanwhile, others may also perform better when working in a busy environment filled with teamwork and collaboration. When creating a coworking environment, make sure you designate different spaces to accommodate different needs. Meeting the needs of these workers can help boost their productivity levels.
Here are some ideas you can consider from the get-go:
Coworking tables or shared office desks: As you’ve noticed in a regular office setting, each office table is covered with long walls or permanent cubicle partitions, which prevent each worker from seeing other people working. Although this setup is intended to help them focus on their work, this may not fit some people who can only thrive when they can visibly see others working. Walls and traditional cubicles can be boring and demotivating, too. (3)
When creating a space for workers who prefer busy places or collaboration, consider putting coworking tables or shared office desks on a particular area. Additionally, you can use a glass partition system that allows sound privacy or minimizes noise distraction. This way, those professionals can still work in collaboration and see each other working in the same area but with minimal noise. Overall, shared tables in your coworking space may be the best way to motivate these people to up their performance and encourage proactive working. (4)
Standalone breakout space: Meanwhile, for those individuals who can only focus and do their best when they’re alone, designing a standalone breakout space can provide them with a private space to do their own thing. To make the area look more peaceful and quieter, you can incorporate potted plants, invest in breakout chairs or couches, and use deep earth tones for the interiors. (3)
Invest in freestanding cubicles
Freestanding cubicles are office cubicle systems that you can easily install, reconfigure, or move when necessary. The great thing about this type of cubicle system is that employees can choose to create a larger workspace or smaller workspace, depending on their needs.
For instance, if you wish to work and collaborate with other freelancers, you can reconfigure the freestanding cubicles to create a wider space that can accommodate everyone in one area. Meanwhile, if you wish to have some privacy, you may reinstall and reconfigure the cubicle to accommodate only one person.
Provide storage options
Although some of these workers are only using their laptops for their job, some may have other office supplies they need, which they don’t want to bring back and forth every day. Finding out that they left some of their things at home could affect their mood and productivity for the day. (3)
To resolve this problem, consider putting up a set of lockers so each worker can have a place to store their things. Make sure they’ll be the ones who’ll provide the lock, assuring them that they’re the only ones who can access the things inside. Other than lockers, storage options you can use are lockable medical file cabinets, private rental locking storage, or office desks that feature lockable drawers.
Designate a space for their office or work supplies
Interior of cozy modern coworking office, empty space
Even if most of their jobs can be done on their laptops or phones, there may be times when paper and pens are the only things needed to complete a job. Having no access to any immediate office supply could disrupt their workflow and affect their productivity. Thus, consider designating a space intended for office or work supplies. (3)
You can fill this area up with bond papers, pens, paper clips, staplers, notepads, folders, envelopes, and other traditional office supplies. A coworking environment that can provide them with office supplies anytime could help boost their performance without any disruption and improve their productivity. (3)
Create a space for break time or lunchtime
Break time is also necessary for workers to stay productive. Spending eight to nine hours each day doing all your work without any break will eventually drain you and demotivate you about your job in the long run. Thus, when designing a coworking environment, make sure you create a space intended for break time or lunchtime. (3)
For instance, if space and budget allow, you can design a gaming room filled with board games or indoor sports (e.g., golf, ping-pong table). You can also designate a space where people can take their power naps. If you don’t have these resources, you can invest in comfy sofas or chairs, magazines, indoor hammocks, a radio, TV, or other sources of entertainment that’ll help them relax, re-energize, and recollect themselves before resuming their jobs. (3)
Set up a beverage and snack station
Nowadays, coffee and tea have become a necessity for many working adults. Coffee makes them feel energized and keeps them awake, especially if they’re about to take a long, tedious workload. So, help these people stay on top of their game by setting up a beverage station. This way, they can easily access and serve themselves a cup of coffee or tea whenever the work is too much, and they need their ‘coffee/tea break.’ (4)
In addition to beverages, perhaps some of them may also need snacks to reload their energy. Although most of them would probably bring their own snack, it would also help if you had some finger-food snacks that they could pick up any time along with their coffee. Some of these foods you can include in your snack station are nuts, biscuits, chips, crackers, and sandwiches. (4)
Have a sanitation and touch-up station
Like a regular office, having a touch-up or sanitation station is also an excellent spot to help workers recollect themselves before going back to work. This station can be a perfect place for them to fix themselves, do some breathing exercises, do their private bathroom businesses, and do other grooming routines. They can also visit this station whenever they need some alcohol, tissues, or other sanitizing materials they can use to clean up and sanitize their workspace.
As simple as this station can be, things like this will surely help those professionals feel welcome and cared for. (4)
Be a tech-smart facility
Although office tools, supplies, and furniture pieces play a huge role in providing productive coworking space, so do your technological devices. Hence, create a tech-smart coworking environment by investing in CCTV cameras, access cards, biometric machines, projectors, and other technological tools needed for their tasks. Adding these advancements will make your coworking space more efficient. (3)
Wrapping Up
A coworking space shouldn’t only give some workers a reason to work outside their houses. Instead, this space should provide them with an opportunity to stay productive as much as they can. Don’t worry, as a coworking environment doesn’t have to be perfectly designed in terms of aesthetics. (1)
However, by incorporating the right materials, office tools, and function rooms, you can ensure that all types of workers can perform their best and keep their productivity levels high. Overall, a well-designed and well-structured coworking space can create a better place for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and remote workers to get things done and set them up for a successful career.
TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.
The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.
“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.
The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.
But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.
Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.
“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.
“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”
Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.
The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.
In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.
Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.
The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.
The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.
Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.
Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.
It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.
Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.
Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, are set to resume today as a strike that has stopped most services drags into a second week.
No timeline has been set for the length of the negotiations, but Joe McCann, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they are willing to stay there as long as it takes, even if talks drag on all night.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last Tuesday, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
Hundreds of drivers rallied outside TransLink’s head office earlier this week, calling for the transportation provider to intervene in the dispute with Transdev, which was contracted to oversee HandyDART service.
Transdev said earlier this week that it will provide a reply to the union’s latest proposal on Thursday.
A statement from the company said it “strongly believes” that their employees deserve fair wages, and that a fair contract “must balance the needs of their employees, clients and taxpayers.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – Travel company Transat AT Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter compared with a profit a year earlier as its revenue edged lower.
The parent company of Air Transat says it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31.
The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue in what was the company’s third quarter totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
Transat chief executive Annick Guérard says demand for leisure travel remains healthy, as evidenced by higher traffic, but consumers are increasingly price conscious given the current economic uncertainty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
