As part of the "New Work Weeks", we are shedding light on the topic of the "New Way of Work" at hrdiamonds. Having already covered the topics of remote work and home office in recent weeks, we are now turning our attention to coworking spaces.

Our team member Lena Strohmayer has been working remotely from Asia for hrdiamonds for the last 10 months. In her first article, Lena gave valuable tips on the topic of remote work, which you can read about here .

In today's article, we would like to share her experiences and advice on coworking spaces with you. What are coworking spaces? What should you know about them? And what should you look out for when looking for a suitable coworking space? Lena gives you helpful answers and insights.

Coworking space – what´s that?

A coworking space is basically a shared space in which different people come together to work (often independently of each other). On the one hand, it forms the workplace of digital nomads. These are people who do not have a fixed center of life and work but move around and are able to work from virtually “anywhere”. This is usually made possible by flexible working conditions - mostly online/remote work - and is becoming an increasingly popular way of working and living today. On the other hand, locals, i.e. people who live permanently on site, can also use these spaces and work from there. Coworking spaces are therefore not just workplaces, but also meeting zones where different people and cultures come together.

If you are considering traveling for a while and continuing to work remotely, it can be a little overwhelming at first to find a good coworking space or a good place to work from in general. That's why I've put together a little checklist based on experience and a lot of trial and error.

“I've never thought so much, or had to think so much, about what makes a good workplace as I have when working remotely. Working from anywhere sounds simply great until you realize that there are certain things that need to be fulfilled in order to be able to work from ´anywhere´.”

1. Good internet connection

Let's start with the most obvious, but also the most important point for most remote jobs: you simply need a good internet connection! Nothing slows down your work or frustrates you more than losing 5 minutes (or more ...) every single time you try to open a document. If you then realize after the eternally long saving process that you have forgotten a dot at the end of a sentence and therefore have to save it again, you are already on the verge of despair. Even though it's obviously important, you can't assume that the internet will work perfectly in every coworking space. It can even happen that you find a better connection in a random café than in a coworking space. Why is that? Because there are usually lots of other people in the coworking space who also use the same connection, which can reduce the performance for each individual. So, it's always best to check what you can find out from other people's testimonials or online reviews regarding internet connection. From personal experience, however, I can say that the internet connection in many coworking spaces I´ve used is much better than in my home office in Vienna.

2. Comfortable seating and workspaces

I don't know about others, but personally, before I started working remotely, I never really thought about what my seating arrangement should be like in the workplace. Especially in jobs where you do a lot of work on the computer, you usually have good office chairs and height-adjusted desks in the office anyway. Interestingly, not every coworking space is like this. And even if it's really fun to spend an hour or two cuddled up in a beanbag typing away on your laptop, after several hours, days or even weeks you probably won't find it quite so amusing anymore. At least my back usually complains after just a few hours. So, think about what is important for you to be able to do your work well. Do you need an office chair? A standing table? A couch? Anything is fine, but it's best to think about it - or even better, test it out - before signing up for a long-term membership at a coworking space.

3. Quiet rooms and less quiet rooms

Most coworking spaces I've worked in have different zones or rooms. A quiet zone where you can go about your work in silence and are not allowed to have any conversations, phone or video calls. And a room where all of this is permitted. If you are someone who can't cope with conversations and phone calls going on all around you, you should make sure that there are quiet rooms when looking for a coworking space. In general, it can be really good if you are not allowed to talk and can strictly focus all your concentration and attention on your tasks.

4. Call rooms

If you plan to have more important conversations while working remotely or simply need a little more privacy for meetings, it's a good tip to look out for coworking spaces with meeting or call rooms. Because even if you are generally allowed to talk in an open-plan office room, that doesn't mean that you always want to, or that it always offers the best environment for this. Especially during important appointments, you don't want it to get too loud, for someone to walk into the picture or suddenly start doing jumping jacks behind you (and yes, that's exactly what happened to me).

5. Extra equipment

Not every coworking space will offer everything your worker´s heart desires, but you can still think about what you can´t be without. My absolute “must-haves” at the moment are water dispensers and lockers, for example. In contrast to Austria, in many other parts of the world you can't just drink water from the tap. In that case, you should make sure that this is taken care of. Most coworking spaces also provide tea and coffee and some even have an entire kitchen. Unfortunately, lockers are not always available, but when they are, they offer a great advantage. Because they allow you to not carry all your work equipment back and forth every day and to go out to eat during lunch breaks without laptop and so on. Some coworking spaces also offer additional equipment such as printers, extra screens, LAN cables, etc., but you should definitely check all of this if you need it.

A little tip: Don't forget to bring adapters for the sockets if you are traveling to a country with a different network plug. These are usually not provided and without them the working day would be unintentionally shortened.

6. Community

One of the main reasons why many digital nomads decide to use a coworking space is the community there. Of course, you could also work from your own apartment, where you won't be disturbed by anyone, don't need a call room or lockers and, with a good internet connection, may have the whole network to yourself. But you are also alone there and always within the same walls. Some people already feel isolated and lonely when working from home office. But if you are also in a foreign country where you have no social contacts - especially at the beginning - working in a shared space can be a good point of contact. However, the measures taken by coworking spaces vary greatly. Within the same country, I have experienced one coworking space where nobody interacted with each other - people came, worked and went home again - and another that organized frequent networking events, joint coffee breaks and lunches. Here, too, it is important to find out where you feel more comfortable and what is important to you.

Insider tip at the end: Most coworking spaces offer a free “tour” or a cheap day pass. Both allow you to get an impression of the space before signing up for a longer membership!

Now you know the various points to consider about coworking spaces, the opportunities they offer, but also the potential inconveniences. In conclusion, however, I would like to emphasize once again that these spaces are a starting point for anyone who wants to discover the world and work at the same time. They facilitate encounters and open up fields of learning and connections to new cultures and a different way of working.