Coworking spaces are a great office alternative for startups and entrepreneurs, thanks to their range of benefits and facilities oriented towards the development of budding businesses. In addition, coworking spaces are cheaper than traditional offices, have better amenities, and are based on enhancing social interactions. No wonder coworking spaces are preferred by entrepreneurs and startups all over the world. 

With such a diverse crowd at a coworking space, one of the biggest responsibilities for the management becomes setting up and following certain etiquette rules. These rules may comprise the regulations that you want your members to adhere to and a set of conditions that must be met to ensure a proper work environment is provided for everyone. 

If you are wondering what the set of etiquettes that you must follow as a coworking owner are, here are a few tips:

Be Punctual

Time is of the essence for coworking members, and you need to abide by that. You must open your facility at the right time to let your members conduct their work and meeting on time. Punctuality is one of the most important things to keep in mind if you are to retain your customers and ensure their happiness. 

Moreover, if you have to close your premises for fumigation, renovation, or other reasons, you need to let your members know beforehand. This also applies to public holidays. You can let your members know through email, community stream, website, and social media platforms. 

If you have mentioned in your profile that your coworking space opens 24*7, stick to it. 

Keep the Noise at a Minimum

Some coworking spaces opt to play some music to keep their members entertained while working. Nevertheless, this might not sit well with some coworking members. To cater to both kinds of members, you must ensure that the noise you are creating in your office is not disturbing anyone. Therefore, either shut down the music entirely or keep it at a minimum. You can also encourage your members to resort to earphones/headphones to listen to their favourite music. 

Additionally, you can also take steps to minimize chatter in the working area by providing a dedicated chit chat area in your office. Place signage to request members to keep their phones silent and avoid making noises so other members can work efficiently.

Respect your Member’s Privacy

When customers come to you to become members, they are essentially deciding to trust you with their privacy. Therefore, you must ensure that the information your members share with you are safe and kept confidential at all time. When your members receive any mail, make sure they get them right away. Respect your members’ privacy if you are to keep your coworking space up and running.

High-Speed Internet

This just goes without saying. High-speed internet is mandatory if a coworking space is to retain its members. Inability to provide a fast and reliable internet connection to your members would be a deal-breaker for most people. Choose to invest in quality IT from a reliable service provider.

Make sure that you are providing both wireless and wired connection options to your members. Moreover, the network connection you provide to your members must be secure and protected. 

Suggested Read: Coworking Spaces and the Stereotypes Around Them: Why is Coworking Better

Keep the Space Clean

Coworking space must live up to the standard of cleanliness and serenity. Keep your space clean and tidy, so your members can feel relaxed and comfortable while working. A cluttered office space tends to have a subconscious effect on our mind, making it difficult for us to function at our best. When coworking spaces provide their member with amenities like a kitchen, gym, cafeteria, restrooms, it becomes quite difficult to maintain cleanliness. Nevertheless, as a coworking owner, you must go above and beyond to keep the space clean and presentable. 

While you can’t hold each member accountable, you must ensure to put up signage and posters that encourage people to maintain cleanliness. Moreover, you also need to provide dustbins and trashcans around the area to encourage members to keep the trash in place. 

Be Approachable

Make sure to set up your community manager in a way that makes them easily approachable. A community manager is someone who holds the entire office in place by fostering a sense of culture and community in the area. A community manager’s job is to take queries, suggestions, and complaints from members and ensure they are listened to. 

A community manager must go all the way to make sure each member in the space is satisfied and happy with their provided facilities. Even if the community manager is not approached with complaints, feedback, and suggestions, they should always be alert regarding what the members are working on and what they are struggling with.

Top-Notch Security

As a coworking space owner, it must be your aim to provide best-in-class security to your members. Whether your members come in early in the morning or leave late at night, they must feel safe and secure all the time. To keep your members feeling safe, you must take efficient, intelligent, and reliable methods of maintaining a strong security presence. You must also make proper use of technology and provide your members with smart cards or phone access codes to get into the building. Moreover, you also need to make sure that surveillance cameras, alarm systems, antivirus, and firewall are in place and are frequently updated.

Feedback Reception

Not many coworking spaces care for the feedback of their members or have any sort of feedback mechanism set up in the office. However, feedbacks are one of the most important aspects of running a culture-oriented coworking space. There are many ways to get feedback from your members. For example, you could use Typeform or Google Docs or set up a simple feedback form to get suggestions from you. With communication tools put in place, your members will feel confident about raising complaints or giving suggestions to you.

With feedback, you can also develop certain aspects of your coworking space and make it more efficient and functional. Feedbacks also help you get to know about the drawbacks of your space and improve upon them.