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Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

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Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#291

Post by awl130 »

My startup leases a big private office and we did it because it made really good economic sense. no deposit, major curb appeal that impresses potential clients for zero capex on our part, and flexible in a way in which traditional leases could never compete. There are now so many weworks in our city that whenever our team expands we just move to another office across the hall or to another wework building. Wework is happy to accommodate and roll over our lease. it's an easy move -- no furniture, just desktops computers and personal effects - 24 hours tops.

Meanwhile, potential clients walk into the common area, hear the indie rock and think we're this super high-end, hip, "urban" company filled with creative young people. The reality is that we only step out into the kitchen and ping pong tables when we get bored. We have the option to retreat to our sanctuary any time. It's incredible. Tell me a better solution! There is none!

But as this backlash indicates, the hot desks are the big scam -- essentially younger, non-salaried individuals who are essentially paying for the privilege of providing atmosphere and brand for us, the private suite tenants.

Wework gets the valuation, i'm guessing, because in addition to the typical rental income from the private offices (albeit, these aren't long term leases, but with scale, they don't have to worry about that), they are collecting $500/mo from the hot desks in the lobby area, an area that would normally sit empty. Wow! what a business model. Bravo Wework.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#293

Post by lsc »

LandR wrote: post #27

I work in a shared office / coworking space. We have 3 desks in a large open plan office with a kitchen area. It's about 10 feet from my desk. Most of the time it's just me from our company as the other devs work from home or work out the main office. My experience of working in this shared space: * It's noisy. I mean really noisy, noise cancelling headphones are a must. Like I said the kitchen area is near my desk,…

>The kitchen area, despite being an office staffed with supposed professionals, is always a mess. How does this happen?

Are you staffing a professional cleaner?

Expecting software engineers to be good at keeping a kitchen tidy is about as rational as expecting your marketing people to be good at maintaining your servers.

I mean, sure, there's a basic level of consideration, and even when I'm at work (where we have a pretty excellent cleaning staff) if you drop something on the floor, you are expected to pick it up so that nobody else steps in it and tracks it all over the place, and people do.

But... you can tell that the place would get grungy pretty fast if we didn't have the professional cleaners about. Cleaning is a skill like any other,and some of us are better at it than others... and some of us have higher standards than others.

The right way to deal with this in a commercial space is to pay a professional to deal with it, imo.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#294

Post by generallee5686 »

kerkeslager wrote: post #206
generallee5686 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you on employers needing to create workspaces conducive to introverts and extraverts. I've seen one attempt at this and I think it was basically an extraverts attempt at making introverts happy. It was basically "we made these 3 'private' office things that you can use when you need to". This doesn't help me at all. Can I use these 90% of the time I'm at work? If not, what's the point? I think the unfort…

> I've seen one attempt at this and I think it was basically an extraverts attempt at making introverts happy. It was basically "we made these 3 'private' office things that you can use when you need to". This doesn't help me at all. Can I use these 90% of the time I'm at work? If not, what's the point? Did you give this feedback to anyone who could do anything about it? > 1. It seems to be vastly more expensive for…

Yea. I actually talked to the guy building the space. Gave me a vague answer but it seemed like he was basically saying square footage was expensive.

I may have a skewed view on things because I work in a techy college town.

I've actually had some friends who got offices but their job was miserable (defense contractor). I may have just had bad luck but from my experience, finding a good place to work without a completely open office environment is tough.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#295

Post by sneak »

Raphmedia wrote: post #115
sneak wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drinking in general is a really bad idea. I use it as a good and clear signal for who not to associate with, personally and professionally. I am all for having more opportunities for drunkards to expose themselves.

So, if I were to invite you home and offer you a glass of Glenmorangie (Scotch) or Suntory (Japanese Whiskey), that would make me a drunkard? What about a nice glass of finely aged wine? Please, don't limit your worldview to stereotypes...

What in my comment suggested to you that I believe that one glass of scotch or wine makes one a drunkard?

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#296

Post by sobani »

lsc wrote: post #293
LandR wrote: post #27

I work in a shared office / coworking space. We have 3 desks in a large open plan office with a kitchen area. It's about 10 feet from my desk. Most of the time it's just me from our company as the other devs work from home or work out the main office. My experience of working in this shared space: * It's noisy. I mean really noisy, noise cancelling headphones are a must. Like I said the kitchen area is near my desk,…

>The kitchen area, despite being an office staffed with supposed professionals, is always a mess. How does this happen? Are you staffing a professional cleaner? Expecting software engineers to be good at keeping a kitchen tidy is about as rational as expecting your marketing people to be good at maintaining your servers. I mean, sure, there's a basic level of consideration, and even when I'm at work (where we have a…

Interesting, I interpreted the "mess" as leaving dishes in the sink, and not as not putting on the rubber gloves and cleaning said sink.

In the company I work for, you can take the lunch from the lunchroom to your desk. For a week now, at the team next to ours, there's a pile of trays, plates and soup bowls. It seems that whoever is taking the lunch to their desk, can't be bothered to bring the plates back. Not even next day.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#297

Post by sobani »

Axsuul wrote: post #289
josephjrobison wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree that there is a lot less of the cross-pollination of companies as they kind of advertise. At the WeWork I'm at, it's a mix. You can be friendly and talk to other people if you try. If you don't try it's not going to happen. As far as productivity, I'm a full 50%+ more productive at the coworking space vs being at home. And compared to a coffee shop, it's about the same price and a lot more convenient to ha…

How much do you pay for your WeWork space where it's about the same as a coffee shop?

Given how expensive drinks can be at a coffee shop, I guess WeWork prices are less than the rent of a dedicated office.

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#298

Post by [deleted] »

btbuildem wrote: post #39
LandR wrote: post #27

I work in a shared office / coworking space. We have 3 desks in a large open plan office with a kitchen area. It's about 10 feet from my desk. Most of the time it's just me from our company as the other devs work from home or work out the main office. My experience of working in this shared space: * It's noisy. I mean really noisy, noise cancelling headphones are a must. Like I said the kitchen area is near my desk,…

> The kitchen area, despite being an office staffed with supposed professionals, is always a mess. How does this happen? It's a common space, so it's nobody's. Especially in an environment like that, a collection of separated individuals

[deleted]

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#299

Post by cup-of-tea »

kerkeslager wrote: post #98
cup-of-tea wrote: post #17

I "work" in an open office type space. My ears are filled with people on the phone or just talking about work they could do. In my peripheral vision is a colleague and various other movements. I'm here to do only very simple work because I can't think very deeply. Any serious work is done at home where I am many times more productive. For some work this type of setup might be fine, but for anything resembling enginee…

I've worked as a software engineer for over a decade and most of that time was spent in open office spaces. I am most productive in that environment. I don't doubt that you are more productive in a different environment, but it's a pretty big leap to assume that every engineer is going to be productive in the same environment. Different people work different ways, and the answer is to find a workspace that suits you,…

Can you explain how you find it possible to think deeply about complex algorithms and data structures, or to debug code? When I do this I find that I'm essentially running programs in my head and keep a "mental stack" of what's going on. A distraction can easily break this mental stack. How do you deal with this?

Re: Why It’s So Hard to Actually Work in Shared Offices

#300

Post by gnclmorais »

isostatic wrote: post #243
dorian-graph wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience, finishing at 4pm in London is not common.

8-4 for parents, to beat the rush home 10-6 for youngsters, then to the bar to beat the rush home.

I wish it were like that on WeWork offices…
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