Should Coworking Spaces allow night shifts?

Coworking affords the workers a home away from home but without the distractions, so that they can work productively, to their maximum potential, in a comfortable environment. Such spaces also offer networking opportunities that is essential for people to expand not just their business but also their horizons.

Around 16 million people are expected to work out of co-working spaces in India by 2020, according to the estimates.

Coworking spaces are also making inroads into tier II and tier III cities, and the segment is expected to see $400 million of investment by 2020. It is quite evident from such robust statistics that this is no longer a phenomenon. Coworking is here to stay.

We now have even women-centric spaces coming up, with the rationale to empower the women who have been running businesses from their home for a very long time, while also juggling home life. The emerging co-working spaces acknowledge that, and women-centric co-working is their way to get them to join the mainstream. They provide women a comfortable environment to work in without being overshadowed by men, and collaborating and networking with ease.

However, one group that hasn’t been given due recognition is the ‘night owls’.

The unique selling point of the co-working spaces is that they recognise that working professionals are not alike, and cannot be confined in the traditional work setup. Which is one of the reasons that flexible work hours are provided by spaces, so that the workers may come and go according to what suits them the best. This idea should also be extended to recognise that day time isn’t the only time to be productive. It isn’t just the BPO workers who work at night, but many more people who strap down to work when the sun goes down.

One of the reasons that people prefer to work at night is that they feel the most productive during those hours only. They may feel the muse hit them only when the moon is high up in the sky. Creativity flows best when all the world has gone to bed, and one is left alone to let their mind run free. Or so many artists believe. Such people also need a place they can work from, availing the same amenities that regular day workers get, while at the same time getting the opportunity to network with like-minded people.

Another reason that someone is a night owl is because it’s the necessity of their job. Many companies work with overseas branches, and the time zone difference makes it imperative for them to work at night. Some companies allow their workers flexible timings, and such people are in need of some place they can work from. Some startup operating at larger scale cater to foreign markets, and are in need of an office space from where they can work night shifts.

The night shift is also great for members who work in startups and are working overtime on product launches.

Then, there are offshore development centres that prefer the night shift as they have to work till 2–3 am, aligned to different time zones.

Thus, we can see that the demand for night shifts is quite high, regardless of the kind of work the members may be involved in. From freelancers to large enterprises, there exists an important and rather big group of workers whose needs too need to be catered to. They offer co-working spaces an opportunity to expand their revenues by making their hours even more flexible to allow night shifts.

Operating costs incurred are less compared to the revenue generated, if the co-working operators were the open their spaces for the night shifts as well. It is a way to ensure 100% occupancy and generate higher revenues. Those reluctant to adapt would argue that it would create security issues. But, if you have a robust security system from the very beginning for the overall space, operators don’t need to do something extra to ensure the safety of the night shift workers working from their spaces.

Some of the co-working spaces have already begun to offer night-shift hours, along with amenities such as housekeeping and food services for them, as well as special amenities like on-call doctors and IT support.

They have recorded not just an increase in occupancy but also an impressive month-on-month increase ever since they have adapted to the growing popularity of night shifts. Customisation of co-working spaces is gathering momentum, and clients are looking for such niche spaces that cater to their needs. It is about time the co-working spaces opened their doors to the night owls and give wings to their flight.