If the quarantine blues are kicking in and you’re already dreading your new 9-5 life at home, then there could be another way. While most people have been slaving away at the office for years, remote workers have been getting a much sweeter deal in some of the coolest cowork places in the world – that’s why it’s been dubbed the future of work.
It’s no secret that millennials have been increasingly sacking off traditional career paths in favour of something a little more flexible – and fun. They’re over the assumption that work can only be done from the confines of a classic office, and popular careers like blogging, coding, and software development have all been lending themselves well to the remote setup.
The benefits of going freelance – higher rates, being your own boss and usually more flexible working conditions – are compelling, though most freelancers will tell you their biggest problem is taking a holiday. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid. But what if you combine the two? That’s what some the savvy sun-seeking self-employed are doing in some stunning coworking settings around the world, proving that the two really don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Or, at least, it did before this coronavirus turned everything into chaos.
I’ve been a remote worker for decades now. Having grown progressively less enthusiastic about living in London, a trip to Lisbon led me back to a new life in Portugal, deciding not to go back to England. I started my own technology consultancy and freelanced remotely to supplement my income, but always struggled to find work-friendly environments. I couldn’t find anywhere to concentrate, friends visiting were here for two or three days and just wanted to party. I’d be on a video conference with an important client and people would turn up half-naked from the beach, it became really hard to separate the two things.
I always wanted to create an environment where remote workers like myself could still meet people as you would in a local cafe, but a space that was conducive to getting things done. This year, I decided to launch my own space 10Cowork in Lisbon South Bay. We host all sorts of guests from digital nomads, freelancers, to people starting a new career online, running e-commerce businesses or tech startups. 10Cowork was initially specifically targeted at less established freelancers who were just dipping their toes into this lifestyle. People that liked the digital nomad concept but were not yet fully sure how they could adapt to this lifestyle. Now we are more of a fast turnaround shared agile space for a new generation of successful hackers, hipsters, and hustlers.
Some people contacting us now are already thinking post-Covid-19. What kind of world will emerge post-COVID-19? Pandemics have always shaped business – and from increased digital strategies to new on-demand services, Covid-19 is doing it already. As the world continues to fight the rapid spread of coronavirus, confining many people to their homes and radically altering the way we move through, work in and think about our cities, some are wondering which of these adjustments will endure beyond the end of the pandemic, and what life might look like on the other side.
One of the most pressing questions that workers will face is the apparent tension between employees and employers – the push towards remote work becoming ever more standard, which is seen as essential to sustaining new economies – and commuting, the distance separating work and workers, which is one of the key factors currently being considered for future frameworks.
I keep encountering more and more people like myself: people who were established in their careers, or seriously developing their own businesses. They are all seeking new ways to live and work in non-traditional, idyllic, cool places. They realised it was part of a bigger narrative around the future of work, and how exciting the possibilities might be of a decentralised, networked remote lifestyle. These new coworking spaces will also provide workers with a sense of community and networking opportunities while they’re remote.
The demographic of coworking members is changing. While the early members were largely from traditional location independent careers such as coding, digital marketing, graphic design, and coaching, increasingly we’re seeing other professions join – we’ve had teachers, architects, estate agents, and even lawyers – wanting to join in on the fun. It’s not just individuals that are getting on-board with the remote setup. Corporations are increasingly willing to offer employees perks like a month or two in cool coworking spaces. This way of living has been dubbed by some as the future of work, I see it as more than that, it’s a remote lifestyle revolution. And this revolution will quickly become the working standard post-COVID-19.
Soon, companies will realise that the way to attract the most talented, ambitious thinkers won’t be locking them in a mega-office in the suburbs of Silicon Valley. It will be about setting up a benefits package that allows employees to work from anywhere – and gives them access to new cultures, new people and new adventures. While not every industry lends itself so well to remote working, it’s not hard to see the draw of this way of life for those who do have the flexibility to enjoy it.
A stronger sense of society as a collective whole, rather than an agglomeration of fragmented individuals, could lead to a long-term increase in remote work to protect economies – a development that businesses may now find easier to adopt, given their readiness amid the coronavirus crisis to override established work methodologies.
We don’t yet know the answer, like most businesses globally we closed our doors during this storm, but in the new and unpredictable connections swiftly being forged within our economies as a result of the pandemic, there is perhaps some cause for optimism. We are potentially seeing a fundamental shift in working relations. Workers are becoming aware of desires that they didn’t realise they had before, which is for more human interaction, maybe without all of the contact, for links to people who are unlike themselves. Whether that change in the nature of coworking proves to be as lasting as our pandemic awareness remains, for now, to be seen. Either way, 10Cowork will be here to support everyone in a brighter new future.
