Independent, young, fascinated by new techs and entrepreneurship, willing to have a meaningful job: it’s tough to categorize a coworker nowadays. Indeed, coworking seduces a wide range of profiles. So, who coworks in 2015? Is it a boho artist addicted to fair trade teas and member of the no-buy movement? Or is it a tired web-developer making website contents SEO-friendly? Or maybe even a young and ambitious kid looking for the best business plan of the year? Cowork.io decrypts the class of 2015 coworkers!
There is no “standard” coworker
Frankly, there is NO standard coworker. But really, to be a coworker nowadays rather means you have more than one card up your sleeve, and that you are an asset to your community of coworkers. Still a few elements to define the coworkers could be that generally they are men (2/3 of the existing coworking community), they are young (about 34 years old) and more than half of them are independent workers.
The “Internet Wizard”
The coworker can’t escape his origins. Born at the time of hacking in the 1990s in Berlin, then in San Francisco, by the Silicon Valley, the coworker does not only develop an addiction to new technologies. He creates new uses and is considered to be a pillar of the digital economy. A majority of coworkers are web developers, SEO specialists, web-marketers and computer programmers. A lot of coworking centers have thus capitalized on this and created custom-made premises for this specific customer base.
The Entrepreneur
Another feature to (maybe) define a coworker is his propensity to develop his own business. Indeed, many coworkers graduated from business schools. The coworking center is a growth accelerator for young start-uppers. Coworking spaces, incubators and accelerators are part of the same economic ecosystem: they partly exist because of start-ups in the new technology sector. Initiative, creativity and ambition are master words for the coworkers who wish to establish their own business.
The Networker
Coworking also attracts freelance professions such as consulting, communication, press relations, journalism, training… Before coworking existed, these independent workers stayed at home which meant it was difficult for them to be known for what they did. Coworking offered these professions access to a network. It was life-changing for them.
The Arty
Another type of independent workers who appreciate coworking are those who practice arty professions. Coworkers first attracted professions linked to new technologies such as web designers or graphic designers. Nowadays, coworking centers see more and more architects, city planners and landscapers. Coworking offers a highly creative environment for this profile of workers. And intellectual stimulation is fundamental to them.
The eco-friendly and associative coworker
The associative sector is a recent recruit for coworking centers. Same goes for sustainable development, ecological, environmental sectors and for the social and solidary economy sector. The coworking values are appreciated especially for the importance given to sharing competences and the valuation of non-trading activities. Associative coworkers are generally found in coworking spaces created by public bodies.
What about tomorrow’s coworkers?
Coworking does not only attract independent workers. More and more companies are curious about the concept. It is now a common practice for employees to work at home. In cities where transport is time-consuming, companies follow with interest the development of tele working. Coworking centers are a solution to people who wish to separate professional and private lives.
Are coworkers necessarily hipsters?
The stereotype still exists: the standard coworker is a bearded guy with dirty clothes, obsessed with fair trade, bikes, diversity, Apple devices and money (which he never seems to run out of). You know: a hipster! Really, nothing could be as wrong! The foregoing list chose that although some coworkers can be categorized as ‘hipsters’, the diversity of profiles attracted by the coworking phenomenon is wider than the overrated and fuzzy hipster fantasy.
