What kind of place are we?

As the name suggests, Jam Jar Cowork is a coworking space, which is a little like a serviced office but with less service and no individual offices.

Jam Jar coworking space - CollingwoodInstead Jam Jar is open plan, and coworkers use common sense to foster a considerate and productive working environment for everyone.

Jam Jar’s common sense stems from this maxim we borrowed from Indy Hall, Philadelphia’s first coworking space –

Look after yourself. Look after each other. Look after this place we share.

These Indy Hall ‘goals’ as they call them, were a light-bulb for me to start Jam Jar. They’ve become my mantra for how I work as an individual, while being inspired by, and considerate of, other coworkers.

Indy Hall founder, Alex Hillman, says it like this:

I think of being a good coworker as like being a good citizen. Good citizens don’t only vote and pay taxes…they’re role models for other members of the community, they look out for each other.

 

There are three simple goals to follow:  Look after yourself. Look after each other.  Look after this place we share.

 

Everyone has different ways of actually accomplishing these goals, and we see members discover new ways every day.

Coworking is a paradigm shift in how people work, often associated with the ‘future of work’. People pay to use a desk in an office space that meets their working needs. Just like a traditional office it has friendly coworkers, fast wi-fi, meeting rooms, tea rooms, breakout spaces, and printing facilities.

The difference is that the space isn’t driven by an absent management who ‘knows best’. It’s driven by the coworkers themselves – the people in the office – who casually interact in an open plan environment to form a working community, just as people working for the same employer do in traditional office environments.

I’ve worked in a lot of different CBD offices, and despite many happy experiences, always noticed what was wanting. Why so little control over the places we work and spend so much time in? Why not trust people to adjust the air-con or open a window?

Empowering the people who work in a space to make that space is key to the future of work. That’s why it was so important for me to create a professional and productive space where people are trusted and take responsibility for their work environment.

Our namesake expresses this. Jars are industrial, transparent, versatile and defined by what’s in them.

So that’s the kind of place we are. A place to do great work. A place where everything aims to help members look after themselves (healthy space), others (encounters in shared space) and Jam Jar itself (a nice, neat space that’s worth looking after). A place to shift into the future of work.

If you’d like to see it in action, get in touch here.