To start working remotely is a big decision for the company and the employees themselves. Usually the first option to remote work is to work at home. Those who do remote work a lot and those who do not have suitable office corner at home, a co-working space could be a solution. Bigger towns have their cafeterias and working hubs filled with people carrying their laptops.

Many of the rural resident’s commute to work neighbouring towns or bigger cities, single entrepreneurs are seeking for working community. In Leader Aisapari region nearly 30% of the workforce commute. Over thousand summer cottages and their residents also create a large number of potential remote workers.

Remote working is nowadays seen as vital part rural vitality. Rural Working Hubs - creating communal working spaces for entrepreneurs and telecommuters is and international development project of Leader Aisapari and Longford County Council from Ireland. In this project we support local actors to build up and develop their offerings to co-working spaces.

Some examples of the working spaces from Aisapari region:
• An association for care services for elderly has empty office space in Kauhava. The space is to be refurbished to be a co-working space. The association staff is eager to have new working mates.
• Village of Luoma-Aho and local enterprise offer together a co-working space. The firm has the empty office rooms, and the village association does the practical arrangements and marketing for the co-working space.
• Tourism sites, hotels and cottage villages, provide remote working space for their customers

Couple of lessons learned so far:
• Rural co-working hubs are not good business but needs to think like business
• Encourage people to come to your co-working space for the first time: free testing day, easy booking and payment and interesting events.
• Good coffee is one of your selling points

When remote working hubs become settled, rural areas will have new communities filling up with new ideas. Well, that’s what usually what happens when new people meet.

So, carry your laptop to countryside and set your remote office to a village co-working hub. For example, in Aisapari region, we have those already 14. One in every village centre, two in the best.

Heli Talvitie
Transnational cooperation Coordinator, Leader Aisapari

Aisapari is a LEADER group in western Finland. It consists the municipalities of Alajärvi, Evijärvi, Kauhava, Lapua, Lappajärvi and Vimpeli. Total population is 48 000.