From inspiration to ideas, new age work space offers it all

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Shweta Sharma | 30 Sep, 2014
Nav Chatterji prepares for work in the mornings but instead of going to a designated office space, he goes to a collaborative working place that he says motivates him to work harder and gives an opportunity to meet people from varied fields.

Such workplaces, better known as co-working spaces, are being hailed as the new generation work space. It is essentially a workplace away from structured office spaces which make available services like internet, stationary, lockers, meeting rooms and in some cases even games.

These innovative working places are becoming quite a trend these days in India with more and more people, mostly budding entrepreneurs, artists, freelancers, opting for them.

"Co-working is most commonly referred to as the concept of working in shared office space. For us though, it is about collaborative-working," Riyaaz Amlani, chief executive officer, Impresario Hospitality which runs Social, a collaborative workspace in south Delhi's Hauz Khas Village area, told agency.

"The creative and entrepreneurial community thrives on collaboration and networking. A space which gives people an ambiance to work, grow their networks, create new projects through collaboration, and grab a drink," Amlani added.

With a flexible work space, unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi, a printer/scanner/copier, stationary, lockers, meeting facilities, and full food and beverage offerings Social charges Rs.5,000 per month a member, which is fully redeemable on food and drinks through the month.

Chatterji, a 31-year-old entrepreneur who has in the past worked in New York, says that such places offer a breather from the monotonous office-routine.

"While working in an office you meet the same people and stare at the same four walls throughout the day. But here, you get to meet people from myriad backgrounds," Chatterji told reporter.

He added that seeing other people working on their laptops while listening to music at times is contagious and leads to motivation to work and hence, better productivity.

According to Jacob Jay, founder, Moonlighting - an embassy for entrepreneurs, creators and thinkers - co-working is a movement formed from the emergence of a new class of workers who are typically more professionally independent and less tied to a desk than workers of yore.

"Indeed it has commonalities with the principles of hotdesking (an office system which has multiple workers using a single physical work station during different time periods) within larger companies,"said Jay.

He added that most coworking spaces operate in this manner, only sometimes providing a dedicated desk.

"This increases the serendipity and value of bumping into colleagues and other people you might not otherwise. Such creative jobs whilst historically quite lacking in India are fast growing, and these professionals similarly benefit from and need to interact with each other on common ground," he added.

Moonlighting operate as a social enterprise out of two locations - Nehru Place in south Delhi and Gurgaon in Haryana.

It offers a part-time casual plan without hotdesking for Rs.1,500 per month, whilst full-time hotdesking for Rs.6,500, and a private team room starts at around Rs.22,000.

Listing the benefits of working out of a coworking space, Pranav Bhatia, founder, Stirring Minds, a coworking hub in central Delhi, said that such places offer advantages when individuals start their own work as they have little support system in place.

"In a corporate setting most individuals handle a particular task, and for the rest you have different functional departments.

"But when you startup you have everything to be done by yourself. A coworking environment gives you the comfort of a support system to do your startup as it expands your business network, get motivated by seeing others working hard and you don't have to get involved in managing the hassles of ensuring water in dispensers, refilling ink, managing power, internet and admin stuff," Bhatia said.

But do such places not have their own set of limitations?

"The whole workspace is fashioned in a manner where there are three zones, each with its own vibe. There's a whole section, which by nature of design, is a quieter workspace, next to which is a massive long table which is for those in the mood for a light day at work, intermittent with chats," Amlani said.

He added that there is a third, slightly more bustling section, where people regularly take calls and hangout for quick chats.

"As for private, we have a separate meeting room which can be booked for meetings and internet calls," he said.

While agreeing that such spaces do have shortcomings, Chatterji said they are also a pool of ideas.

"The place I go to, you have a non-work area where people can come out for a phone call or a smoke. Here, you tend to catch up with other workers with whom you might just share a common liking or idea," he said.

(Shweta Sharma can be contacted at shweta.s@ians.in)