The people helping you run your coworking space are the backbone of your business.Â
These people are the face of your business and will interact with members on a day-to-day basis. They represent your company and function as an extension of your brand. As such, bringing the right people onto your team is crucial for the success of your business.Â
The first step, decide how many full-time employees you will need. And what are the key positions you need to run your space? From there, you can begin to write formal job descriptions and cast a net out to find qualified candidates.Â
Here are a few key positions that should be filled:
Operations:
- Operations ManagerÂ
- Operations Coordinator
Member management:
- Community ManagerÂ
- Community CoordinatorÂ
- Front Desk Associate
Marketing
- Marketing Manager
- Sales Manager
Depending on the size of your space and numbers of members, you can scale the amount of staff you need. But these are the key positions most commonly found in coworking spaces.
Experience & qualities you should look for
If you’ve hired before, think about the candidates that eventually turned out to be your top performers.Â
Did they become top performers because of a specific set of previous experiences? Probably not. Top performers all share a set of similar qualities: An openness and drive to grow, willingness to learn, and energy and attitude that works within the culture.Â
When hiring for your coworking space, especially for roles that are customer-facing like Community Manager, it’s important to focus on assessing the personality and temperament of your candidates, rather than scrutinizing their specific work experiences, or lack thereof.Â
With that said, a positive attitude is always a great foundation for a top performer, but experience can play a role in the long-term success of a potential hire.Â
Hospitality experience, for example, is something you want to look for in your member management roles and operational roles as well.
How much budget should be dedicated to staff
When considering the cost of operating your coworking space staffing costs definitely takes a big slice of the pie.Â
Coworking professionals agree that staffing is the second biggest cost of operations after rent. A total of 20-30% of your budget should be dedicated to employee salaries.
Writing job descriptions for your coworking space
Attracting the right candidates for the job starts with a concise, honest, and clear job description.Â
You should tailor each job description to fit the needs and size of your space. Here is a rough guide that highlights the general roles and responsibilities of each position and ultimately helps guide your hiring efforts.
Operations
Employees on the operations team are buzzing behind the scenes ensuring your business is running smoothly.Â
Think about what an Operations Manager of a hotel would be responsible for: making sure the cleaning staff know what needs to get done that day, which rooms are booked and need to be set up for guests, placing orders with outside vendors for various supplies, equipment, etc.Â
Similarly, responsibilities of the operations team include, but are not limited to:
- Â Ensuring the daily logistics of the space are taken care ofÂ
- Managing communication with third-party services (like cleaning) and order with outside vendors (like food and supplies)Â
- Overseeing and tracking the progress of long-term projectsÂ
- Coordinating the development of the spaceÂ
- Developing and redefining operations procedures
Member Management
This team is the face of your business. These employees are the main touch-point for all your members and they hold the most customer-facing responsibilities.Â
At the head of this team is the Community Manager, as explained here, a Community Manager’s role will vary depending on the size of your space.Â
For example, larger spaces will generally spread the workload between two employees: A Community Manager and an Assistant Community Manager. They may even hire a separate full-time front desk associate.Â
Generally speaking, though, the overall tasks and responsibilities assigned to the member management team are:Â
- Create a fun, hospitable, and professional work environment for membersÂ
- Engaging with members, acquiring feedback, and communicating with operations to improve member experienceÂ
- Greet potential members and assist in toursÂ
- Assist with member onboarding Event planning, coordination, and hostingÂ
- Resolve member requests and complaints across all touch-pointsÂ
- The main point of contact for billing inquiries and issuesÂ
- Greeting guest, signing them in, informing a member of their arrivalÂ
- Managing and distributing incoming mail and packagesÂ
- Opening and closing the spaceÂ
- Tidying of common areas
Sales & Marketing
Your sales and marketing team are there to grow your business by acquiring new members and coming up with strategies and best practices to keep current members happy and coming back for more.Â
Responsibilities of the sales and marketing team include, but are not limited to:Â
- Plan and execute a marketing strategy for your space SEM (paid online advertising) & SEO (organic online marketing)Â
- Implement specific sales and marketing KPIs to track progressÂ
- Build a social media presence and grow an online community and followingÂ
- Develop and implement a sales strategy and pipelineÂ
- Manage a CRM, follow-up on leads, and close dealsÂ
Archie provides the world’s fastest growing coworking spaces with an all-in-one platform to automate their operations and elevate their customer experience by enabling their clients to enjoy coworking services from an elegant self-service app.Â
From large coworking space networks to individual flexible spaces, we believe that powerful, innovative team operations should be within reach for every workspace, no matter the size, or ambition. Through its intuitive platform, Archie helps you cut down redundant manual work and make your member experience a breeze by providing you with the right tools that power ambition.
