Coworking global survey: 42% of all coworkers report earning a higher income since joining a coworking space

A few days ago, Deskmag, the coworking magazine, launched a worldwide survey, in order to investigate the motivations of the users of coworking spaces. Coworking Europe 2010 is proud to be a partner of this great initiative.

The survey collected answers from 661 coworking space users around the world, originating from 24 different countries. The evaluation of the data requires a little time, but a few preliminary results are already available, says Deskmag.

Here they are :

Firstly, it seems a large majority of coworkers are very satisfied with their coworking space. Seventy percent of all coworkers said they were very happy with their desk in their coworking space. A quarter found their coworking space to be okay, while only 8% of respondents were disappointed by their community based shared office.

The positive results stem from the real advantages offered by coworking spaces. Most respondents said they are more motivated (85%) and have better interaction with other people (88%) since they moved into a coworking space. Almost half now work in teams more often (57%).

More than half organize their working day better so they can relax more at home (both 60%). At least 42% of all coworkers also report earning a higher income since joining a coworking space, and only 5% suffer from a loss of income.

The price of coworking is satisfactory for most participants. Fifty-four percent said the price was exactly right, and about a quarter think it was a little high but still fair (21%). One in five respondents would be willing to pay a little more, while only 6% said it was too expensive.

You may find more results of the survey here

One month ago, Entreprise Globale and Tech4i2, released the results coming from a survey on Coworking spaces in Europe. The datas are to be found here.

Then, 87% of the surveyed European coworking space answered that new projects were born from a collaboration between people who first met in the coworking space.

All those datas are building the case to sustain the creation for more coworking spaces in Europe and elsewhere.

We think it’s a fantastic news.

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A list of Coworking ressources for knowledge and experience (by CoHere, Fort Collins, CO)

CoHere is a coworking community based in Fort Collins, Colorado. They used to be very active and insightful, the last months, on the social networks.

They just published this list of ressources for anyone interested in developping Coworking. Here is an excerpt of the post :

Instead of making you dig through the library stacks for coworking resources, I’ve compiled a list for you. Whether you’re a would-be coworking space catalyst, a coworker or simply interested in the idea of coworking, the following resources will give you a good idea about coworking, the people involved and how to get started.

• Coworking Wiki
  • Coworking space directory
  • Coworking visa (what it is & where you can use it)
• Coworking Google Group
• Coworking Blog
  • Subscribe to the RSS
  • Contribute your own coworking blog post
  • Leave comments on other blog posts
• Follow #coworking on Twitter  (Tip: you don’t need to be on Twitter to watch this stream of ideas, articles and conversation—simply click on that link!)
• Join the LinkedIn coworking group
• Watch must-see coworking videos

To see more ressources, read the rest of the post on CoHere’s blog

Interview of Christoph Fahle, co-founder of BetaHaus (Berlin), during Coworking Europe 2010

Creative economy: a less theoretical idea thanks to coworking

Many discussions are worth following on the global Coworking group on Google. This one, started by Cadu, from BeesOffice in Rio de Janeiro, was especially interesting.

“Can coworking spaces stimulate the development of today’s creative economy?“, was asked…

The 20th century’s economy was based on the industry. The 21st century’s economy will rely much more on creative individuals, soft skills and innovation networks.

Alex Hillman, from IndyHall, in Philadelphia, counts among the main figures in the US Coworking community and beyond.

In reply to Cadu’s question, Alex shared a very insightful thought stressing the difference of impact he noticed between, on the one hand, the creative economy promoted as a theoretical model by some agencies and, on the other hand, the creative economy as it’s achieved now by a new category of players, among which, of course, you may find coworking spaces.

Here bellow is Alex full comment on the Coworking Google group :

The biggest problem with the “creative economy” as an idea is it’s an enforced one, not an emergent one. It’s usually the one used by the Economic Development Centers and local governments to describe a group of people that they’re not. As a result, the people that they’re describing don’t know or understand what they’re being called, or the direct benefit it has to them.

This “insider vs outsider” effect has some potential benefits (like varied perspective), but I think that the overall impact of organizations that have built themselves to “improve the creative economy” over the last 10 years is far less than what coworking spaces have been able to demonstrate in less than half that time.

Coworking, I think, highlights the same opportunities that “Creative Economists” have been talking about for a decade or more, but instead of labeling something we don’t understand, we’re immersing ourselves in the growth of the economies and taking the time to understand why they work, what they mean, who contributes to them, and why.

In short, I think that there’s undeniable potential for building economic stimulus in what we do. I think we need to be mindful of what makes us
uniquely valuable, and continue to focus on that, in order to see the greatest potential outcomes from the groups we participate with.

If you want to read a very long, rambly, and personal account of where I drew the line in the sand between the “real” creative economy and the people
who spend lots of time and money talking about it, you can read this post.

http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2009/09/the-real-deal/

Theres a lot of lost context, unfortunately, so I hope it does more good than harm…I’m 100% certain though that I’m not the first person to have
felt the way I expressed in that post, and I’m also aware of coworking space catalysts and leaders around the country having similar experiences with
their local EDC activities.

As one more aside, my partner Geoff recently posted this as a follow up to a recent article on TEDxPhilly, and I think it succinctly captures everything
I’ve said here:

http://dangerouslyawesome.com/2010/11/dont-try-to-name-us/

-Alex

/ah
indyhall.org
coworking in philadelphia

Take part in the first global survey on the benefits of coworking for coworkers !

The economic think tank Entreprise Globale and the Coworking Europe 2010 conference are partners in the first global survey on coworking users, initiated by the Technische Universität Berlin and Deskmag.

Click here to take part in the Global Coworking survey

This survey is part of an academic, non-commercial study examining the working conditions of coworkers in coworking spaces. It’s the first global survey on coworking. The results will be published for free on a magazine or blog in your country.

All replies are anonymous. We don’t at any point ask for your name, or the name of any coworking space.

The questionnaire is simple to use. You also can switch between languages in the upper right corner. The continue button is at the bottom of the page. Have fun and thank you for your participation!

This survey is organized or supported by:

Lukas de Pellegrin, Technical University of Berlin
Carsten Foertsch, Deskmag – Coworking Magazine
Jean Yves Huwart – Coworking Europe / Enterprise Globale – European conference on Coworking 2010
Carolyn Ockels, Coworking Labs – Coworking Research USA
Cadu de Castro Alves, Global Coworking Group
Anderson Costa, Movebla – Brazilian Coworking Magazine
Massimo Carraro, Cowo – Coworking Network Italy
Sebastian Sooth, Hallenprojekt – German Coworking Network
Manuel Zea Barral, Working Space, Coworking Madrid
Akira Matsuda, Coworking JP – Coworking Blog Japan
Nicolas Koreni, moboff – Japanese Coworking Network
Joel Alas, Deskwanted – Global Coworking Space Directory
Nathanaël Sorin-Richez, Silicon Sentier – La Cantine Paris
Pernilla Raj – Coworking Sweden