Photo: Khmer Times
Businesses that run co-working spaces are worried that the ongoing health crisis could hurt their business because some of their users are still planning to work from home.
Chea Mara, the general manager of the co-working place Emerald Hub, told Khmer Times that it has already been hurt. She noticed that some small businesses have cut back on the number of employees they have. Some of them have shut down their businesses, while others work from home.
"The pandemic has affected our work because some small businesses here have shut down for a while because they make less money, and others are working from home," she said, adding that working from home is another problem for business owners because it doesn't seem to be productive.
Mara says that most of the companies that run their businesses in a co-working space are in the fields of information technology, education, and banking.
Plang Phalla, co-founder of Buyloy.com, a local tech start-up e-commerce platform that also runs its business at the Emerald Hub, said that his business is still running as usual, but sales income is feeling the pinch.
During the pandemic, he saw a 20–30% drop in sales, and he said that some of his employers who work from home are less effective because they seem more relaxed.
"Our customers are probably saving during this difficult time, which has caused our sales to drop," he said.
A worker at the Factory Phnom Penh, which is one of the biggest co-working places in Cambodia, said that many members have asked to work from home and return when the pandemic is over.
Information technology, law, and engineering are all used for business at the Factory. About half to two-thirds of the people who work at the Factory have taken their tools home.
"In the light of COVID-19, some microbusiness owners have asked to work from home for a while," the person said.
Coworking places are thought to be both affordable and flexible in terms of the length of time you can rent them for. Co-working spaces can also be hired by the hour, the day, or the month.
No one knows when COVID-19 will end and things will go back to normal, but co-working space providers all over the world are having a hard time. Last week, it was said that the shutdown is making it hard for co-working space providers in Singapore.