Acoustic considerations in a shared workspace – The pros and cons of Shared Space
Shared office acoustics: If you want your voice to be heard, you need to have great office acoustics to back you up. When you are speaking your mission loud and clear, it’s vital that people can connect to your message…even if you are sharing your space with other impassioned entrepreneurs. It’s time to make your workspace design and office acoustics, well, work for you.
The trend of shared office spaces has taken the business world by storm, but is this really the best choice when you are starting your own business? Sure, there are tons of advantages to this new way of doing business. It simultaneously saves overhead expenses of full office space and creates an atmosphere of abundance by often being a well-designed, energetic, and trendy atmosphere. Minimizing expenses while also providing an impressive space to bring clients, investors, and collaborators are the crux of this explosively popular new way of officing.
In this key moment of your business, when it is all about building trust with your investors, potential partners and strategizing for success, having a workspace that elevates your work is everything. Shared space could be great for your jumpstart in owning a business, while you are still growing, learning, and setting your stage for further growth.
Yet, there are issues inherent to shared workspaces and they are mostly connected to noise, bad acoustics, and a lack of privacy. You are probably aware of information flow and how information can easily become distorted. Also, there is a problem with privacy – your sensitive information and plans could easily fall into the wrong hands. Today we are breaking down the pros and cons of shared offices and what actionable steps you can take to make your open-office team feel comfortable, while also protecting your sensitive information and preventing oversharing.
Coworking space benefits
If you own a startup and you are an entrepreneur with big dreams, you know how important those first years of your business are. It is a crucial time when you identify your product or service, make your unique impact in your industry, and become a trusted name in the market. Traditional offices evolved by following changes in the market. Startups are setting the new foundations of business today. Office spaces are not mere decoration, they are evolving as well to become a personality in the business itself.
One of the most important benefits of shared offices is flexibility. Based on your business needs, you can choose the package that suits you best. Most importantly, they might be prone to changes, leases for open offices are never a year long. You can switch to different plans or memberships according to changes in your business. For example, if your team has 6 new members all of a sudden, don’t worry. You can negotiate a new contract for your shared workspace.
Private office downsides
Growing a startup can be pretty tricky and sometimes lonely. With shared office spaces, you will have insights from the first row and potentially even gain networking opportunities. This could help you establish a solid pace from the start. You can also attract the attention of angel investors so keep your eyes wide open and wait for that opportunity to show.
When you own a private office, there are some things you need to worry about. For example, securing enough parking space for your employees, making sure everything is working properly, creating the correct aesthetic with design and decoration, paying mass amounts of monthly utilities, and more. With shared offices, you can put these worries aside because open office spaces often offer benefits such as high-speed internet, free beverages, meeting room access, free scanning, and printing.
When you are starting a business, it’s far more important to focus on your mission and strategy, than on getting enough paper clips and paying the garbage bill. Leave that boring stuff for later!
Lastly, and one of the more exciting aspects, is education – you will have opportunities to learn more about how things work in the business world today by taking advantage of a shared workspace. By both working near so many different functioning businesses and by being at a site that offers perks like networking events and communal space, shared offices often host these kinds of events.
Shared issues in office acoustics
Of course, there are downsides to shared offices. We can all imagine a situation when you are preparing for a crucial meeting and there are distractions everywhere. You are focused on collecting important info but so are your fellow workers as well. The main issue is the lack of structure found in traditional offices. You may ask your desk neighbors to keep it down but noise travels and it can affect you in ways you may not notice, but it will eventually be felt when your personal productivity drops.
Now we don’t want you to feel paranoid, but proximity to your potential competitors has a downside, too. We bet you have great ideas, and what if someone overhears something you wanted to keep confidential? That is a worst-case scenario, of course, but in these non-traditional work settings, anything is possible.
There is another problem to consider – customization is lacking. Sure, shared office spaces look great, but does it really reflect your mission and your business culture? With shared spaces, it is sometimes hard to keep a healthy company culture. It might even sometimes feel chaotic. Healthy company culture fuels your company and prioritizing the focus on your mission is the spirit of your business.
Shared offices acoustics considerations
Luckily, there are steps you can take right away to get the most of your shared office space. Save your money, free your employees from various distractions, and keep information channels private for yourself. It will keep your workspace and common areas pleasant & productive at all times. Here are some office acoustics solutions that can boost your workplace design. Just make sure to define how much liberty you want in order to improve office acoustic design. Fortunately, there are numerous options out there, both thrifty and at a higher price point that can have a priceless effect on your employees.
- A pleasant and quiet workspace is a vital tenant of productivity. When sound is absorbed and distractions are gone (no annoying phone ringing, chattering, and noises from neighbors’ offices), you will notice that productivity levels rise. It helps with boosting memory and reducing stress.
- Options for office acoustics are numerous: based on your budget, you can tailor a perfect solution that will give your employees a pleasant and peaceful place to work. Our recommendations for crowded workspaces include:
- Fabric-wrapped acoustical panels – decorative, sound-absorbing panels for any space where good speech privacy or speech intelligibility is important.
- Wood Wool – cementitious wood-fiber panels are eco-friendly, paintable, and available in multiple shapes like circles, hexagons, and squares.
- Acoustical foam panels – a traditional way to absorb echo.
- Echo Eliminator or CFAB Cellulose – Eco-Friendly, “green” and very cost-effective.
- Wallmate stretch wall system – professional-looking, high tension, stretchable fabric acoustical wall system with nearly unlimited panel sizes.
- PolyMax acoustical panels – a perfect blend of aesthetics and cost.
- The office design lowdown: Find out what options for changing and decorating are available to you. We are sure that acoustic mats or acoustic panels can fit in the space nicely, as well as improve the overall aesthetic, and leave a lasting impression to your potential clients. Don’t let your interior design be boring! Be sure to utilize decorative sound absorbing panels for office to get that classy, modern look.
- Keep it confidential – acoustic panels will absorb sound so you will finally be sure to speak about your plans in front of your employees exclusively. Sorry, fellow competitors, you need to come up with your own ideas – drop the eavesdropping!
In conclusion
Shared office spaces are amazing when you look at all the benefits we have mentioned. If you are at the beginning of your new business (ad)venture, this option could suit you the best. When your time comes, you will easily switch to a private office. In the meantime, however, make sure that your employees are treated well with a positive and productive atmosphere. And amazing office acoustics.
