London has been ranked the world’s best city for co-working in a new survey produced by retailer Aspinal of London.
The notion of ‘co-working’ is being adopted by most major cities in the world with more people deciding to ditch the 9-5 for more flexible working hours. There are currently almost 19,000 such spaces worldwide.
Aspinal of London’s research looked at five key factors for co-working: number of co-working spaces, average cost per month, number of start-up companies, number of company founders and broadband speed (mbps).
London came out on top, as it has the most co-working spaces (213), the third highest number of start-up companies (2,493) and the third-place ranking for the number of company founders (3,962).
Los Angeles was ranked the second-best city, followed by Paris and Bangalore. Unsurprisingly Bangalore had the cheapest average workspace cost per month (£67) and the third highest number of co-working spaces. Despite New York having the most start-up companies (3,408), and the highest number of company founders (5,802), it remained in 5th position.
Daniel Pickering-Fletcher, Head of People at Aspinal of London said: “It’s no surprise that London came out on top, as there are 1.4 million British freelancers working across all sectors and with the rapid growth of freelancers and entrepreneurs, we’ll soon see 40 per cent of the global workforce in self-employed roles.
“It’s clear that cities around the world are adapting to changing times. Working remotely and flexible hours are quickly replacing typical workdays to help people achieve a healthier work-life balance,” Pickering-Fletcher added.
A definition of co-working (courtesy of www.coworker.com)
Co-working is a social gathering of a group of people who are still working independently, but who share values and are interested in the synergy that can happen from working with people who value working in the same place alongside each other. It is about belonging to a community, accessibility and sustainability. It is the new way of working and sharing. Co-working spaces are designed to provide a productive and collaborative environment for their dynamic inhabitants, and created without corporate constraints on what is perceived to be an “office” environment offering flexible memberships to suit most needs.
Article published 24th October 2018