The influence of coworking on well-being and performance: an Experience Sampling Method study

Remote work from coworking spaces developed as an alternative to remote work from home, aiming to retain its benefits while overcoming its costs. There are reasons to question whether work from coworking spaces delivers on these aims, however. The current study uses the Experience Sampling Method to explore within-participant differences in well-being, work engagement, and productivity among remote workers, depending on (1) whether they are working from home or from a community-based coworking space, and - when working from a coworking space - (2) whether they work in a shared space and (3) whether the work is collaborative. Results suggest that coworking promotes higher outcomes on all measures relative to working from home. Within the coworking space, the impact of other people in the room and of collaboration is mixed, suggesting distinct strategies for how to best use a coworking space depending on the activity.