Research: How Coworking Spaces Impact Employee Well-Being

People find them to be more socially fulfilling than the office or home, according to a new survey.

by

and

Sarah Wright

by

and

Sarah Wright

February 09, 2023

Anton Vierietin/Getty Images

Summary.

Debates over hybrid work policies continue to revolve around two primary work locations: the office or the home. The authors argue this is a limited viewpoint, especially when it comes to addressing the significant problem of employee loneliness. There is a third space to consider: coworking sites. In the authors’ research, knowledge workers rated such spaces as more interpersonally satisfying than working from the office or from home. One big reason is that coworking sites offer better opportunities for employees to relationally craft their jobs — that is, pick which other professionals they engage with during the workday, and how. Social autonomy is a basic need of employees, one that will continue to drive their employment decisions in the years to come. The authors offer five pieces of advice for how employers can leverage the unique assets of coworking sites in designing their hybrid work policies.

“I feel very lonely in my job. I feel fed up with working from my home and not having anyone to talk to but feel equally disconnected when I have to go to the office for in-person team meetings.” — Research interviewee, a project manager in the U.K.

Employees and employers face a challenge: how to optimize hybrid work policies to maximize benefits for both sides, including reducing the debilitating effects of employee loneliness. Lonely employees like the one above tend to suffer from poorer well-being and lower performance — both issues that impact a company’s bottom line.

Constance Noonan Hadley is an organizational psychologist and founder of the Institute for Life at Work as well as a lecturer at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. She conducts research on employee well-being, relationships, psychological safety, teams, and the future of work. Her goal is to help organizations identify and address pain points so that work life can be improved for all employees.
Ben Marks is the founder and executive director of the #WorkAnywhere Campaign, the global advocacy movement representing remote and hybrid workers. He is also the co-creator of the upcoming Future Workforce Alliance, a bipartisan initiative bringing together politicians and sector leaders to drive an ambitious policy agenda for a more fair, healthy, and inclusive future of work.
Sarah Wright is an associate professor at the University of Canterbury Business School in New Zealand. Her research focuses on employee loneliness and relationship quality in organizations, which complements her teaching on management skills, team leadership, and organizational behavior.

Research: How Coworking Spaces Impact Employee Well-Being

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