You're reading: When home or regular office won’t do, try ‘co-working’

The concept of co-working – people sharing office space, even if they don’t work for the same organization – has been around in Kyiv since 2009. It’s popular with people who don’t want to work at home but can’t afford an office and don’t find cafes or coffee shops to be ideal work stations.

If the
worker is lucky, he or she will find a workspace to rent that also includes
creative, pleasant people with whom one can develop synergies.

But the
main attraction appears to be cost – a work station can be rented for as little
as $115 per month. The person also has can be stocked with standard office
needs: computers, copies, scanners and other equipment. At least that’s what we
found at the Goloseevskyi district office. It even has a meeting room available
upon reservation. Everybody working there uses their own laptops, co-workers
also had a kitchen where they could drink coffee or tea and start the day with
news – thanks to Wi-Fi coverage.

Olena
Chornaya, owner of the office, said such working spaces are popular with her
clients, even though it’s about 15 minutes from the nearest metro station at
Demiivska. “On the other hand we’re rather close to the airport which is very
good for the foreign clients and also it’s easier to find parking place,” Chornaya
said. 

Chornaya
even rents space by the hour — $10 – for the businessperson on the go for
meeting with clients or signing contracts. Before, she said, many
businesspeople hid the fact that they rent such offices, but now they’re open
about it.

Kateryna
Marchenko has been working at the Goloseevskyi office since 2009 and has no
plans to quit. She likes the affordability.

Some of the
permanent co-workers are lawyers, software programmers, sociologists, marketing
managers and others who work heavily at computer stations. So the opportunities
to network are strong. And the rules are like a library – work as quietly as
possible, since everyone is in an open space.

Evhenyi
Koshuba became a “co-worker” six months ago. He has his own Internet shop and
said he doesn’t work efficiently at home.

“Discipline
is part of the office working style and it makes me to work better, instead of
surfing the web. While you’re working with different people you tried to do
your best and that’s the motive. When you’re working at home your family
thought you’re doing nothing and here I can concentrate on problems,” Koshuba
said. “When I have to meet with the clients, because I can use the meeting room
instead of McDonalds.”

LIST OF CO-WORKING CENTERS (OFFICE SPACE FOR
RENT) IN KYIV

Goloseevskyi Co-Working Center

10 Saperno-Slobidska (Golosiivska metro station)

http://kovorking-tsentr-gol.uaprom.net/

Tel. +38 044
593-99-87

Price: Hr 900 ($ 115) per month

 Cubic Co-Working Center

3 Sholudenka (Politekhnichnyi Instytut
metro station)

http://coworking-kiev.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_270.html

Tel. +38 (093) 03-06-741

Price: Hr 1 200 ($ 150) per month

 Status Co-Working Center

9 Mykhailivskyi Lane  (Maidan
Nezalezhnosti metro station)

http://status-olimp.at.ua

Tel. +38 044 278 60 00

Price: Hr 2 000 ($ 250) per month