(in German)

Background: With the ongoing digitization new ways of work - such as coworking spaces - are gaining importance. In coworking spaces, a provider offers space and (technical) equipment to its users, creating an immense bandwidth regarding workplace design of coworking spaces.

Objectives: The present study examines existing workplace designs in coworking spaces from an ergonomic point of view and their relation to satisfaction with working in the coworking space as well as subjective health.

Materials and methods: For the explorative study, 112 coworkers (male = 61.6%, female = 38.4%) were examined using a quantitative online survey.

Results: About 38% of the workplaces described by coworkers fulfilled at least five of six previously defined attributes of ergonomic workplaces. With regard to noise, 45% of coworkers indicated that the acoustic level was at least partially too high. For noise, significant differences regarding subjective health as well as satisfaction with working in a coworking space were found.

Conclusion: From an ergonomic point of view, improvements concerning the ergonomic design of workplaces are encouraged. However, further research on working conditions in coworking spaces is needed.

Please download the article "Analysis of ergonomic workplace characteristics in coworking spaces" (in German only).

First Online: 12 May 2021