You have decided on coworking in one of Thailand’s businesses centres. The place is nice and meets all of your needs. However, the only dilemma is choosing workspace formats. While everyone keeps going on and on about how much they have accomplished at the hot desk, you are not quite sold on the idea.
Upon inspection, the space is cluttered with soda cans and food packaging, and while it is the middle of the workday so that is to be expected, no one wants grease stains on their paperwork. A group of people at another station work, but in between concentration, there are these loud outbursts of laughter. You are not quite sure whether they are working or streaming a movie from their laptops. Either way, hot desking can be a gamble where you might encounter rowdy professionals, but going with a dedicated desk of your own in a shared space with views, natural light, and like-minded people gives you the best of both worlds – quiet workspace and a dynamic community.
Let’s explore the reasons why the dedicated desk might be a better option for your work style.
Affordability
The hot desk is a cheaper workstation hands-down. Through a lease for a hot desk, businesses stand to save a good sum of money. However, as in the above scenario, the hot desk is open seating where you miss out on other benefits. If you are looking to reduce your overhead, then the hot desk would be the way to go.
At the other extreme, private office space can provide you with the privacy you want, but while prices might be slightly lower than conventional leasing, some spaces can charge quite a bit for these offices. The private office provides you with the same access to community space with a higher price tag. Not all coworking spaces offer businesses private offices but the ones that do are comparable to most office rents.
The dedicated desk, while an office, is permanent desk space. The cost is more than the hot desk, and depending on the spaces, can be very expensive. However, the dedicated desk is guaranteed space, and more importantly, space that is a part of the coworking community.
Autonomy
One of the major differences between the three types of spaces is autonomy. The hot desk provides the least amount of autonomy for users because anyone who shows up in the space can use the workstation. Ultimately, this means from day-to-day you can find yourself working with very conscientious people and then the next day working with party central. The prices are inexpensive, but who you work with can sometimes be a game of chance.
Private offices offer you total autonomy if provided by the space. Coworking professionals can simply walk into their office and close the door of their office. The only drawback is by doing this they rarely interact with the community during the workday.
The dedicated desk, however, presents professionals with the chance to decorate their corner of the space. Unlike the hot desk where any seat is an assigned seat, the dedicated desk is reserved space, so no matter what time of the day you arrive at your desk awaits you. Finally, the dedicated desk does not remove you from the rest of the coworking community, which is important because the point of coworking is to leverage the social interaction in the community.
Dedicated Versus The Rest
If looking to pay moderately more for privacy and peace and quiet, then the dedicated desk is the way to go. You have more control over the noise level and have access to your workspace no matter the time or day. Ultimately, it is a good deal when thinking about being able to maximise privacy and peace while taking advantage of community space.
