Coworking the ‘happy medium’
Renters have own space, share services
TORONTO — When Matthew Dobbie worked from home as a lawyer, often asking his neighbours or the condo’s security guard to act as witnesses, he found it bothered some clients that they were meeting in his living room.
“It was awkward,” he said. “I probably lost some clients because the setting didn’t seem overly professional.”
So when his sister heard about a company that offered coworking spaces for rent, Dobbie looked it up. Soon after, he joined Workplace One.
The five-storey building in downtown Toronto is one of 20 establishments that offer fully furnished private offices or private desks in openconcept spaces, with shared access to printing services, conference rooms, kitchens and other common social areas included in the rent.
“I get all that at a lower cost than if I were just renting an office on my own,” the 33-year-old lawyer said. “It presents a better front. And it’s a nice bonus that I have people to talk to.”
In a fast-changing economy, coworking is a shared working environment that meets the needs of freelancers, startups, work-at-home professionals, independent contractors or mobile workers.
According to the Global Coworking Census, conducted last February by Deskwanted.com — a Berlin-based online portal for finding shared workspaces — the number of coworking spaces worldwide in 2013 had reached 2,498. Europe topped the list with 1,160. Canada had 80. By July, the global count had reached 3,000.
Online coworking magazine Deskmag says the first official coworking space opened in San Francisco in 2005.
Ashley Proctor, 32, manager of Toronto coworking space Foundery, thinks cowork- ing is a “happy medium” between the traditional office and the isolation of home.
“You get the best of both worlds — the comforts of home without the distractions of home,” she said. “That’s the beautiful part.”
One of the founding members of Coworking Toronto, a collective established to raise the profile of coworking by working together, said community is the most important aspect of shared workplaces.
“Coworking is not about desk rentals or venue rentals but rather the connections people make with other members and guests in the space,” Rachel Young said.
Gil Martinez is a freelance graphic designer who got lonely and easily distracted working from home. In 2011, he became a tenant at Toronto’s first coworking space, the Centre for Social Innovation, allowing him to get his social fix, and work done.
“Since everyone is there to work on their own stuff, office politics are not a problem,” the 40-year-old said. “No one is interested in taking your job, and ... everyone is there to network and make friends.”
Dobbie, the lawyer, has been at Workplace One for just three months, but he has already picked up some business from other tenants in the building and plans to extend his six-month contract.
Private offices there range from $525 to $2,000 per month. Coworking on the ground floor costs $225. These two options can also be rented by the day.
By comparison, gross rent for office space in the downtown area ranges from $35 to $60 per square foot.