International Coworking Day Date in the current year: August 9, 2024

A coworking space is an office spaced shared by workers for different companies and self-employed individuals. Coworking spaces typically offer desks, Wi-Fi, access to printers and other office equipment, shared kitchen space (coffee and snacks may be included), conference rooms, restrooms, and other amenities.

The precursors to modern coworking spaces were hacker spaces in Berlin and other European cities, where programmers would exchange information, best practices, and skills. They were prominent in the 1990s. But the concept of coworking in today’s sense of the word took off in the mid-2000s.

The first modern coworking space was the San Francisco Coworking Space. It was opened by American software engineer Brad Neuberg on August 9, 2005 at Spiral Muse, a feminist collective in the Mission district of San Francisco. The coworking movement began to spread, and today coworking spaces can be found in most big cities.

The target audience of coworking spaces consists of freelance professionals (independent contractors), remote workers, people who travel frequently for work, digital nomads, and small to medium enterprises that can’t afford to rent an office or want to cut their expenses. Workers may use coworking spaces for various reasons: to eliminate distractions caused by working from home, to combat social isolation, because of their networking and collaboration opportunities, and more.

There are two main types of coworking spaces: real-estate-centric and community-centric. The former focus on providing a physical space for workers and making money, while the latter are about building a community, which is true to the spirit of the first coworking space opened by Brad Neuberg. Community-centric coworking spaces may offer yoga classes, meditation sessions, movie and game nights, and other bonding activities.

Depending on their type and business model, coworking spaces may have different pricing strategies. Some have pay-per-use rates (by the hour or by the day), while others sell memberships and typically offer several membership plans. Pay-per-use rates are typically offered by coworking spaces targeted at workers who use such spaces occasionallyб and community-oriented coworking spaces tend to prefer the membership-based model.

International Coworking Day was launched in 2010 by Tony Baciagulpo, co-founder of the first coworking space in Manhattan. He wanted to commemorate the day when Brad Neuberg opened his coworking space and started the coworking movement. The holiday has been observed every August 9 since then.

How can you celebrate International Coworking Day? If you work from home, check out your local coworking spaces and give one of them a try. You don’t have to work there every day, but it can make for a nice change of scenery every once in a while. If you already have a favorite coworking space, give it a shout out on social media and post about your coworking experience with the hashtags #InternationalCoworkingDay and #CoworkingDay to spread the word.