Generally speaking, the term “shared office space” refers to a fully equipped and furnished office space that is ready for quick setup for a business person who does not want to work at home or in a branch office. They are also called executive suites and business centers. The office will provide Internet, telephone and mail services. When you use a rental location, you can provide a business person with professional installation at a lower monthly rent than your traditional office rent.

Often times when renting such an office you will include mail services, a receptionist, business machines such as fax and photocopiers, and office furniture. There are even some that will offer services like conference room accessibility and publishing or delivery services, in addition to other services. Leases are typically six to twelve months. Some may even offer a three-month rental agreement. A shared office space could also be when you rent a small space from a business or company that has more office space than you need. This is comparable to subletting and with this type of shared office, the company or individual could rent a group of offices within the larger space of another company or simply an individual desk space. With this arrangement, you would share kitchen areas, conference rooms, and other facilities within the company or business.

Teleworkers can use one type of office when they come to the office for work. During the time they are there for work, the computer, desk, and telephone are theirs, but at other times these are all used by others in the office or company. This is a good situation for a complementary type of business. For example, when a healthcare professional from a different field shares space with another medical professional, one of the medical professionals will work as many days a week and the other the other days. With this type of arrangement, the one who rents the shared office space for the days that the other medical professional is not working there will not benefit from any services such as secretarial services. This type of shared office space can work for many different professional services.

Some of the advantages of shared office space may include quick occupancy, reduced need for support staff like secretaries, and monthly costs that are all-inclusive. These are the kinds of deals that are especially attractive to startups and small business owners. With shared office space, there are no big expenses for furniture and equipment.