Gone are the days when you had to hold your business idea because you didn't have enough capital to open an office. Today, there are plenty of resources available that everyone can easily access to turn their business idea into reality. If you've got a start-up idea and want to explore your options when it comes to physical workspaces, one of the best options worth considering is a shared office space.
Shared office space is more like a readymade office where you can just for the number of workstations you would need and get started. You won't have to worry about setting up an office, procuring the furniture and stationery, establishing an internet connection, and everything else there is that one needs to have their offices up and running. You'll be provided with everything you'll need to work efficiently. Simply pay and get started.
The culture of shared office spaces has encouraged numerous individuals to take their first steps toward establishing their businesses. There are more start-ups today than there ever were because a major part of the concern has been addressed with the idea of shared office spaces.
Everyone is all praises for this concept. However, one thing that you'll have trouble dealing with when working in a shared office space is the noise. Since most shared workspaces have an open design with numerous individuals and companies working independently, you can't expect the office to be quiet. The office that's next door to the cabin you're using might be dedicated to a call center or e-commerce sales representatives who are on call all the time. You can expect a lot of noise – and disturbance in a shared office space.
Maintaining silence in a shared working space is one of the biggest challenges (among many others) that may want you to reconsider your options. However, you need not worry. We're here to help you maintain silence in a shared office space and work as efficiently as you need to take your start-up to all the places you've ever dreamt of!
Challenges of Shared Office Spaces
We can't deny the numerous benefits that shared office spaces have got to offer, nor can we deny the fact that there are some challenges associated as well. As much as a shared office space makes it easy for start-up business owners to take their first steps, it also presents some challenges. Let's have a look at some of these challenges to get a better idea of what to expect when working in a shared office space.
Distractions
We've said this before, and we'll say it again; shared office spaces come with a lot of distractions. You can't tell your neighbors to keep the volume low or tell them to take their animated chatter outside the office because you've got important deadlines to meet. The shared office is as much theirs as it's yours. This is one of the biggest challenges you'll have to face when working in a shared office space. It gets even more critical for you if your work requires you to focus in silence, like making financial records or presentations for clients where you just can't afford to get de-tracked.
Lack of Privacy
There are lots of work-related discussions that you wouldn't want anyone to overhear. You may want to discuss confidential matters with your coworkers or brainstorm a new idea with your teammates, and you certainly wouldn't want this private information to leak out. This is another major challenge of shared working space. There's an undeniable lack of privacy. While you can keep confidential discussions in closed conference rooms, you can't run to the conference room whenever you've got something important to discuss.
Lack of Customization
You can't have your office your way when working in a shared office space. You've got to make it work with whatever is available. Believe it or not, workplace customization has a significant impact on the morale and productivity of the employees. However, there's not much you can do to make your employees feel at home in a shared office space.
The Need to Maintain Silence at Work
It shouldn't even be a question. Everyone needs some silence to focus. Why is it that conferences and board meetings are conducted in closed conference rooms and not in busy lunch halls? Silence helps people focus better, especially if they're involved in tasks that require critical thinking, focus, and concentration. Productivity can go downhill if there are too many distractions and noise around. While most employers ensure they provide their employees with quiet working spaces, that's not the case when you're working in a shared office space.
But fret not. Maintaining silence in shared office spaces is not impossible. Let's see how you can maintain silence in shared office spaces and ensure that your productivity and efficiency don't take a blow!
Ways to Reduce Noise in Your Open Office
How to reduce noise in a shared office? This is a million-dollar question when an increasing number of start-ups are springing up, and more and more shared office spaces are being designed.
Here are some options that'll help you manage the noise and offer maximum benefits to the users of your shared office space.
Use Noise-Canceling Headphones
One of the best and the cheapest ways to maintain silence in shared office spaces is to use noise-canceling headphones. You can't really tell the people working with you to keep their volumes low, but you can limit the noise reaching you. Noise-canceling headphones are quite effective when it comes to canceling the noise of your surroundings. These headphones produce sound waves that are opposite to the noise, and this is how they cancel the noise and offer 100% silence.
Noise-Friendly Flooring
Some of the most common flooring materials in offices are concrete and ceramic. While they're cheap and durable, they're worst for shared office spaces because they're not at all noise-friendly. These flooring materials don't absorb sound. One way to maintain silence in a shared office space is to invest in noise-friendly flooring. If you want a quick fix, carpeting the entire space is a pretty effective way to reduce noise. However, if you can, you should replace the existing flooring with hardwood or LVT flooring that is very noise-friendly. These flooring materials absorb noise and leave the space feeling quieter and calmer.
Add Ambient or White Noise
Have you ever heard that noise can cancel noise? You can maintain silence in shared office spaces by creating noise. No, we don't mean you turn on rock music at high volume. Instead, we're directing you to focus on white noise. White noise doesn't feel like noise. It's subtle and ambient, like the sound of waves or rainfall or wind. Playing ambient noise in the background will cancel out the noise from the surroundings and make your dedicated space in the shared office space feel quieter, calmer, and a lot more relaxing, thereby helping you be more productive.
Add Noise-Friendly Office Furniture
Did you know that adding furniture can help reduce noise? Furniture has a notable effect on the acoustics of any space. Adding enclosed booths, couches, lounge chairs, filing cabinets, and wall partitions in addition to the regular office furniture like Premium Standing Desk (E7) will help you reduce the noise in shared office spaces and help the workers working there work in silence with enhanced focus.
Add Plants
Now, this might come to you as a surprise but placing plants in shared office spaces can really reduce the level of noise. Placing plants in the right spots is all you've got to do! Plants not only bring the aesthetics of the office space up but also bring the noise level down significantly. The bigger the plants, the bigger the impact will be. You can add plants to the walls to make green walls, or you could place large plant pots between the adjacent spaces to reduce the noise coming from the neighbors.
Incorporate Wall Partitions
You can always incorporate wall partitions into shared office spaces to separate different businesses. Not only does that offer an increased level of privacy to the workers but it is also one of the best ways to reduce the noise in shared office spaces.
A problem is only a problem till it doesn't have a solution. Now that you know the noise and distraction problem of shared office spaces can be managed, would you still call it a problem? We certainly won't! Using shared office spaces can help you save plenty of cash that you would otherwise spend on office space, furniture, office essentials, and utilities. Don't let one presenting challenge get the better of you. Implement a solution that suits you best and get going! The concept of shared office spaces is up for the win and is so for all the right reasons!
