Covid-19 and the self-isolation prescribed will mean the weeks and months ahead will be testing times for the coworking community, but it might not be as bleak as it seems and what does this mean for those that currently cowork.

Things might never go back to the normal we knew. We face the prospect of a ‘new normal’ that presents many new challenges and opportunities. The global lockdown in light of the virus has led many people to adopt alternative methods of work.

You have probably seen companies at every scale opting to send their workforce home and with the proliferation of video conferencing on every laptop, tablet and phone; impacts might not have been as large as some expected?

This could lead to many industries assessing their requirements for physical real-estate and in fact whether they want their workforce to be so centralised should another unavoidable catastrophe like covid-19 happen again. 

Of course, mental health is an ever-increasing issue and working from home is not necessarily the most effective way to improve it. We are, after all, social beings that thrive off personal interactions. Nothing can replace face to face connections.

What does this mean for coworking life after covid-19?

Coworking and Coronavirus

We believe that Yolk CoWorking can thrive in the new norm we will all face after the current Coronavirus pandemic has passed.

Community

You will be hard pushed to find a space that doesn’t state community building to be at the core of their operation, but this will truly be tested. Members will be looking for the value proposition of the space beyond the desk, internet and the things they can get at home. You will want the space to offer community interactions.

The community growing at Yolk is unique. It is largely built around members who are foreigners in Krakow. Your profession is less important, you will connect with other members through shared experiences and life situations. 

You might not need to go to a coworking space every day, rather electing to work some days from home and then some days out of the home. Yolk will become more of a social hub than a dedicated workplace, where flexible memberships will make it easier for you to treat it that way.

Comfortable Workplaces

Hygiene will take centre stage. We all face more than a year of the Coronavirus coming and going before a vaccine can be introduced. Yolk will offer you a workspace you can be confident is the cleanest it can be. 

Personal space will be important. Limits on member capacity will be analysed along with the desk configurations to ensure you have the space you need to feel comfortable.

In the coming weeks, you will have access to outdoor workspaces in the rear courtyard at Yolk. As the warmer weather comes, we think you will feel more comfortable sitting outside with the ability to work in a comfortable and productive environment.

Decentralised Teams

More and more companies will offer employees the opportunity to work off-site, some companies will even look to reduce their office capacity. However, they will still be looking for physical meeting rooms. 

This adjustment will also be enabled by the use of technology. Platforms like Zoom have been quite effective at replacing many meeting scenarios and this is not likely to change. But video conferencing with clients from your kitchen or living room does not give the most professional appearance.

Yolk in the New Reality

Temporary Alterations

Starting in May we will be temporarily reducing our membership options to just a single plan of 700pln/month. This will also be treated as a dedicated desk membership, so each member will be allocated their own desk.

Along with this, we will be severely limiting member numbers to give people plenty of personal space when they are at Yolk.

These measures are in preparation for when isolation is relaxed and people are looking to start working out of their homes. We believe there will be some time until larger offices are operating at full capacity, so we anticipate coworking spaces to take up some of this excess.

The meeting room will be repurposed for workstations, so bookings will not be possible.

Garden Working

As the weather gets warmer, we are preparing workplaces in the courtyard garden to the rear of our office. This will be available to members only.

It will be the perfect environment to mentally prepare people to rejoin a working community.