Working from home has long been a popular concept in principle, particularly with employees, but does not always work well in practice. Some of the biggest challenges have historically been from a logistical point of view. People would typically have to print out anything they wanted to work on, or at least carry home a laptop with numerous memory sticks. This was time-consuming, wasteful, insecure and inconvenient. Even then, urgent pieces of work could come in that could not be worked on and would have to wait until the individual was back in the office.

Times have changed, and ‘working remotely’ is a much more accurate phrase to describe the flexible arrangements that many people now have with their employer.

Developments in technology have been key to driving these changes. Most notably, there has been a significant growth in the number of co-working premises, managed by companies like Central Working, Club Workspace and TechHub, that utilise the latest technology to allow people to access the data they need in real time and get their work done in a far more convenient and practical workspace.

The advantages to this are numerous. Repeatedly, remote work options prove to be one of the best ways of engaging employees. Organisations prepared to give their employees this degree of trust and flexibility attract and retain top talent. In turn, employees put in significantly more discretionary effort for the benefit of the company and are far more likely to stay with and recommend such an employer.

All of this has been coupled with a massive cultural shift, with people no longer viewing remote working as an excuse for laziness or for somehow getting away with doing less work. In fact, it is fair to say now that remote working is standard practice in a wide range of companies and industries.

Co-working spaces often provide a range of extra services as well, from basic office services to workshops and speaker events. Looking at the bigger picture, co-working spaces also have the potential to help facilitate networking, encourage collaboration, creativity and innovation, and help professions as a whole to grow and evolve.