A coffee shop is a great place to meet up with friends or relax with a good book, but is it really the ideal place to work?

Coffee shops have been around for a long time and have a well established culture as cool places for freelancers, remote workers, and students to work and hang out. After all, you don’t have to pay for your seat, the wi-fi is free, and typically there is no limit to how long you can stay.

According to a GCUC survey, 84% of coworkers say working in a coworking space makes them more engaged and motivated. And we couldn’t agree more! Here at Gather we see the evidence everyday. In fact, we value personal connections and work to know at least one thing about each community member. We are always looking for opportunities to engage, break the ice and build relationships with one another. And we never stop learning and improving. This is what motivates us and our members!

“According to Alex Pentland, Ph.D., author of Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World, allowing and encouraging workers to socialize with one another boosts both engagement and productivity” (Happy Brain Science, 2022).  While it is true that employees can potentially socialize in traditional offices, as pointed out in the Harvard Business Review, employees often feel as though they are expected to socialize with their coworkers when everyone in the office works for the same company. You’re probably aware of this feeling, right? 

The “obligatory nature” of the experience might make it feel forced. However, at a coworking space, people don’t socialize because their HR manager has told them it’s important for all coworkers to feel like “members of a family.” Simply put, people want to socialize when they want to.

Here at Gather, we pride ourselves in providing the perfect workspace environment that bolsters productivity and manifests greatness for our members. We get how important it is to find the right amount of space for your team, while having access to awesome amenities and resources to maximize your team’s efforts that make them look forward to coming to work every day. This is why shared office space at Gather is so successful.

Gather is a community workspace on a mission to help members make their businesses better. We understand the importance of membership experience and the quality of our workspace solutions. That’s why – with a little bit of help and feedback from our prospective members – we’ve launched our new self-checkout system online for those eager to start our pay-as-you-go, coworking and mailbox plans.