Hey Mike,
It sounds like a classic misunderstanding of expectations or assumptions. You assumed one thing and he assumed another.
If this was his own separate office outside of a coworking space, then of course he would bring in whoever he needs for his business and give them whatever access he deemed necessary.
Do you have a written agreement with him about the use of the room, restrictions, number of people allowed in the room, cost for extras, etc? If you don’t, you should, but in fact you should have had that before you let him move in. It’s a lot harder to argue with something that was already agreed upon and signed.
Is she then considered a guest? And if so, do you have anything in your membership agreement about how guests are the responsibility of those they are visiting?
Private offices don’t have to be separate from coworking, but they can have additional clauses to avoid just these kinds of issues. We have a clause in our membership agreement specifically for those using startup rooms/private offices that says how many members (not just bodies, but members) can use our startup rooms at any given time, that all staff, interns, contractors etc who are there with some regularity are considered members and must sign a membership agreement, what the cost is for the room, and what the cost is if they need additional memberships for folks that would use the open workspaces.
And then in another section it states that members are responsible for their guests and should be present when their guests are present.
Has this been an issue with your other community members?
r.
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On 8 Feb 2014 13:34, “Mike Pihlman” [email protected] wrote:
All:
I recently started offering 2 Private Offices within AltamontCowork.
I need your help.
One of the private office businesses started out as one person, but, has now hired a part-time office assistant. The assistant sits with him in the small office for about 20 hours per week. When he leaves, she stays and works. She obviously uses AltamontCowork resources just like everyone else, and in fact is in the office more hours than several of my full paying members.
I currently do NOT charge extra for this person, nor does she have a building key for 24 x 7 access. She does have the AltamontCowork office door combination code. She is very nice and respectful. The key, or no key issue, was a source of friction between the office member and myself this past week.
We are planning an all-hands potluck lunch meeting the week after next to hash this out, but, I need your advice on how you think it best to handle this new situation before I head into the meeting.
Any suggestions re: Should I charge this person extra? If so, what is reasonable? Should she be there at no cost? Should she be considered a key carrying member? Should I consider private offices separate from coworking?
What do you do with Private office members and people they hire in your coworking space??
So many questions…
Help!
Thanks, Mike
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Mike Pihlman
AltamontCowork / ForCarol.com, Inc.
95 W. 11th Street, Suite 205
Tracy, CA 95376
Phone: 209-757-8862
Twitter: @AltamontCowork
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/AltamontCowork
Drive Safe! Never Forget http://ForCarol.com
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