I would start by digging in with the member who has taken issue with it and find out the root cause? Secondly, I would meet with the primary office member and explain that you’d like to officially make his staff a part of the community by giving her access, having her on email or whatever so everyone can communicate with her (chat rooms) whatever you guys use and then say that it would be incredible if you could add $25/month since in fact, any extra body does end up using supplies be it toilet paper, coffee, paper towels etc.
THEN, I would go ahead and edit your membership agreement to flow with what happened above. I always add $25/person/mo for each extra in an office. I also make sure that all parties in the office are official “members.” This removes that awkward, “oh wait, you’re a not a member, just someone’s staff person” conversation. So anyway, anyone who is working at Cohere with any regularity is a full fledged member no matter what.
Angel
···
On Saturday, February 8, 2014 11:34:48 AM UTC-7, AltamontCowork 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 anyway, anyone who is working at Cohere with any regularity is a full fledged member no matter what.
···
This is the key, in my experience. Without this consistency, it opens the door for the “renter” mentality creep in.
When we have members who bring on additional team members, we find that we have to OVER explain that this person isn’t just an add-on to their membership, but a the new team members’ own membership that they happen to be paying for.
From there, we also try to gauge how comfortable the “primary” member is explaining all of the expectations. No matter what, we make sure that the new member - however the add-on is structured financially - understands what membership comes with.
I’ve said this over and over and over and over - teams are complex from a perspective of integrating them with the community. They’re extra work. They always ask for a better rate “because they’re paying more” when in fact, they consistently put more stress on the entire ecosystem. This is not just from my own experience at Indy Hall, but from the problems that I’ve workshopped people through in other coworking spaces. Coworking spaces can be great for teams, but teams are also create a whole new breed of challenges. Use your discretion carefully.
On Sat, Feb 8, 2014 at 3:43 PM, Angel Kwiatkowski [email protected] wrote:
I would start by digging in with the member who has taken issue with it and find out the root cause? Secondly, I would meet with the primary office member and explain that you’d like to officially make his staff a part of the community by giving her access, having her on email or whatever so everyone can communicate with her (chat rooms) whatever you guys use and then say that it would be incredible if you could add $25/month since in fact, any extra body does end up using supplies be it toilet paper, coffee, paper towels etc.
THEN, I would go ahead and edit your membership agreement to flow with what happened above. I always add $25/person/mo for each extra in an office. I also make sure that all parties in the office are official “members.” This removes that awkward, “oh wait, you’re a not a member, just someone’s staff person” conversation. So anyway, anyone who is working at Cohere with any regularity is a full fledged member no matter what.
Angel
On Saturday, February 8, 2014 11:34:48 AM UTC-7, AltamontCowork 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??
