Neither Office nor Home: Coworking as an Emerging Workplace Choice

Abstract

This study examines, reviews and provides insights from a recent research project that focuses on a range of new and related work practices that have been dubbed 'coworking', a rapidly emerging workplace phenomenon characterised by open-space work environments that lie between working from home and working in a traditional office environment. It analyses the factors that are driving the increasing use of coworking centres and seeks to better classify the often eclectic range of organisations that presently operate under the coworking moniker. While much of the coworker research to date has focused on links between collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship between unaffiliated 'free-lance' coworkers, this paper further considers how public and private sector organisations are using the services of coworking centres as an alternative to home-based telework. This research suggests that coworking centres are occupying an increasingly important niche area as an alternative workplace of choice for an emerging new cohort of workers and are therefore a highly relevant area of research in relation to the future of work in an era of deregulated labour markets, telework and rapid technological change.