Why
Thanks to the technologies available today, it is no longer necessary to commute all the time. As a society, we need to reduce CO2 emissions, strengthen local communities, and make them inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
How
The VillageOffice cooperative is bringing back work closer to where people live. By 2030, it will be a fine grained network of local coworking spaces, which can be reached within 15 minutes by public transportation or by bike.
We are building an ecosystem to facilitate this change faster, in partnership with Swiss pioneers of the field. We are fostering the emergence of new communities and spaces. With your support as a BOOSTER, VillageOffice will develop an IT platform to support this ecosystem.
A key element of VillageOffice is the collaboration between people. This is why a VillageOffice is different from Home Office. It is a strong, local, community that allows to build trust and start real, fruitful collaborations, between people from different organizations and backgrounds.
The Coworking Community: individual work, strong community
Around 60 coworking spaces have formed in Switzerland, where highly creative individualists work on projects for themselves and for companies. VillageOffice, too, is making use of the previously only loosely-connected existing coworking spaces to drive its evolution towards smart corporate office solutions.
Companies have so far shown themselves to be more open to home offices but remain sceptical and fear losing control. Employees complain about internal cohesion growing weaker and about reduced communication. VillageOffice is taking advantage of existing coworking spaces to develop new opportunities for businesses of any size to introduce contemporary, flexible workplace structures that combine the best of both home offices and conventional workplaces. Everyone benefits: Businesses enjoy lower and more flexible expenses. Employees benefit from shorter commutes, industry-wide networking and pleasant work environments. Communities can expect a revitalized city centre and
a boost to the local economy. In addition, reduced commute distances represent a valuable contribution to the protection of the environment.
A central characteristic of coworking is the so-called “community” - communication with coworkers that goes beyond the purely professional. Current coworking spaces were often created because of moral convictions or to facilitate certain activities such as start-ups. With VillageOffice, even “ordinary” employees, for example from a major corporation, will be able to integrate into a community in the future. Coworkers can choose the
VillageOffices that best meet their needs. This is dependent not only on the location of the space, but also on the community and on how the space is designed.
We’re bringing the workspace to the people!
The VillageOffice cooperative is creating new, smart corporate locations close to home. Ultimately, this results in a closely-knit ecosystem of local VillageOffices that are accessible from home within 15 minutes by public transport or by bike. In addition, the VillageOffice subscription will grant access to all VillageOffices in Switzerland.
The VillageOffice cooperative sees itself as an ecosystem that sparks the change to flexible work processes and network-based, cross-border project teams. It is promoting the addition of new VillageOffices, advising companies, expanding partnerships, creating standards and will create an IT system with reservation and billing options, a website and mobile apps. Secure areas will be installed to allow companies with sensitive data to work in larger VillageOffices.
