HQ News
10. June 2026
The short answer
Coworking refers to open, shared work areas, usually booked by the day or by the desk. A shared workspace is broader: a professionally operated location that ranges from a flexible single desk to a lockable team office and bundles services together. Your own office offers maximum control but ties up capital, time and long lease terms. Premium shared workspaces combine the privacy of your own office with the flexibility of flexible models.
What exactly is coworking?
Coworking began as the idea of working together with flat hierarchies. The first official space opened in San Francisco in 2005, and the model reached Zurich in 2007. Classic coworking lives off the open room: shared desks, often day passes, and exchange across industries. For freelancers and very small teams, this is ideal.
What is a shared workspace, and how does it differ?
A shared workspace is a fully equipped location run by a professional provider that bundles several forms of use under one roof. The decisive difference from pure coworking: alongside open areas there are private, lockable team offices, plus meeting rooms, reception, IT and community. You do not rent square metres, you take a membership with a clearly defined scope of service.
Within a coworking community you can now also rent lockable private offices. A team gains the privacy of its own office together with included services and flexible notice periods, without the long commitment of a commercial lease.
When does your own office still make sense?
A conventional office offers full control over design and operations. It pays off mainly for very large, stable headcounts with constant space needs. The downside: leases of three to five years, investment in furniture, IT and security, and ongoing organisational effort for cleaning, catering and facility management. In an era of hybrid work, this often means holding large floors that sit empty half the time.
Where does a premium shared workspace sit?
At the top end of the spectrum. HeadsQuarter is deliberately not classic coworking: no large open multi-person desks, no day passes, no plain offices priced by the square metre. Instead there are memberships, from the Access Pass through the Fix Desk to the Private Office for 2 to 20 or more desks, complemented by the Custom Suite Solution for individually fitted spaces. Operations, from cleaning to IT to community, run in the background.
FAQ
No. Coworking means the open, shared floor. Shared workspace is the broader term and includes private team offices and fully serviced solutions.
High fixed costs, long contract commitment, investment in fit-out and the ongoing operating effort. With hybrid models, the space also often sits partly unused.
For teams that want representation, privacy and service without running an office themselves.
Contact us today and learn how Headsquarter can also support your business.