SmallBizResource Blog -- Mobility

The Loneliness of the Home-Based Office

Posted by Naomi Grossman Thursday, Oct 25, 2007, 01:51 PM ET

From working in your pajamas all day to a fully stocked fridge to not battling traffic, the list of reasons why someone would love working from home is long. But the one thing I battled when I worked from home was something I never would have anticipated: loneliness.

I had no coworkers around to sigh sympathetically when my computer crashed. I had no one to laugh with when someone I interviewed said something really funny. I had no one to chat with when I just needed a mental break from work. Sure I could pick up the phone, but it wasn't the same.

How I wish I had known about co-working then.

"Co-working communities, which combine the relaxed, informal atmosphere of working at home with the sociability and cost-sharing of an office, have emerged as alternatives for telecommuters who miss having person-to-person interaction during work,' writes PC World.

Coworkers usually rent a desk in an office space that provides some sort of common space and, most significantly, accessible human interaction.

"Instead, think of co-working as an entrepreneurial version of parallel play, with owners of their own small businesses working side by side in a drop-in place that looks like a coffee cafe, minus the barista, with all the accouterments of what's hip: high ceilings, beer fridge, pool table and Internet access. Paying as little as $175 a month, they mostly work on their own. But they also trade ideas, help solve problems, and move in and out of loose collaborations. Today's technology — wireless access, cellphones, BlackBerries and laptops — makes a mobile work force possible," writes The Seattle Times.

There is a financial incentive to the arrangement also. "Of course, the sociability and sharing of ideas are only one part of what makes co-working appealing. Another crucial benefit of co-working is the ability to share costs with others for work essentials such as Internet connection, phone service, office supplies and rent," writes PC World.

And staying in your pajamas all day gets old -- not to mention dangerous -- real fast.

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