Coworking: 4 good practices to retain co-workers

At a time when coworking is taking off in France, war is raging between space managers. The challenge is to offer a quality occupant experience, in order to bring together a nucleus of happy co-workers who are loyal to their workspace more than anything else.

Innovative work environment, top-of-the-range services, dedicated events, continuous improvement. Witco experts share these four best practices for building the loyalty of customers – and their teams – within a co-working space.

1. Offering a coworking space combining relaxation and productivity

Companies most often choose a shared workspace for a practical reason: its location, its flexibility, etc. But to promote loyalty, it is necessary to put the professional development of their teams at the heart of coworking operations.

Indeed, in addition to the provision of adequate work tools (impeccable wifi connections, meeting rooms in sufficient number and so on), it is important to promote the well-being of co-workers within the space. These people particularly expect:

• Relaxation areas for restorative breaks, quiet rooms for times to be on your own and play areas to accentuate team cohesion. Unwinding for a few minutes is important for co-workers.
• An easy access to spaces and services, such as contactless, online reservation, etc. you need “tenant experience software” like Witco, to empower co-workers to manage their working day as well as possible.
• A stimulating environment with spaces for brainstorming and creativity, this is what will arouse the creativity and motivation of co-workers.

2. Setting up various services to satisfy coworkers

One of the challenges of a coworking space is making it self-sufficient in itself for its client. Coworkers won’t need or even want to look elsewhere. Therefore this is a subject not to be ignored!  By developing this strategy, shared workspaces will stand out from their competitors and will be able to use their brand image to recruit new talents within their space.

Certainly, introducing new features for coworkers may seem difficult. Yet today, a multitude of services are compatible with the issues related to shared workspaces. Indeed, the coworking market has brought in new players with well-adapted proposals!

For example, we are thinking of practical services:

• On-site catering (à la carte, reviewed daily!)
• Concierge services
• Gym
• Product Marketplace
• Soft mobility (rental of scooters and electric bikes)

3. Organising tailor-made events for coworkers

One of the strengths of co-working is its community of workers. To keep it alive, it is important to increase opportunities for discussion between the different companies within the space: networking, “welcome” breakfast for showcasing newcomers, but also sports or cultural activities, online or face-to-face. Interactions will be facilitated on a daily basis through these events.

In addition, a coworking is also a place of knowledge sharing. Depending on the interests and sectors of activity of coworkers, the manager of a co-working space has every reason to offer events dedicated to the increase in skills and development of his clients and their teams. This is through innovative resources, for example the use of virtual reality to support free training. To follow this dynamic, conferences on well-being at work or IT development workshops could also incorporate interesting content for co-workers.

4. Developing the coworking space using data analysis

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate our services”? Using coworking management platforms like Witco, coworkers can easily share their opinions and wishes. This is a key element for managers who will be able to adapt and better meet their expectations.

In addition to this sort of grading, such tools also make it possible to collect a set of data hitherto broken down between different tools and possibly very little used, among which are:

• The number of incidents reported within the space and the processing time,
• The room reservation rate,
• The peak hours in each space,
• The rate of participation in an event …

Following the analysis of these results, the co-working offers and services may evolve, for example changing of a rarely used meeting room into a relaxation area, organising of new events, new opening hours, etc.

Serving, listening, using expertise… To meet the needs of its customers and their teams, a co-working space must constantly evolve. By putting the occupant experience at the heart of their challenges, the actions of space managers contribute to the well-being AND retention of coworkers.