It's a challenge that we have faced at The Werks. In the early days we tried our best to be around. There's 5 of us all together, but we are all part time. One is part time student helping out with finances, other is part time admin/customer service, then there are 3 of us who 'own' the space but we all have other things to attend to. I, for example, can only be around during school hours. Or when my son decides to go and break his leg I can't be around at all (!).
The Werks is fairly large and a mix of studio space, desk space and coworking - quite intentionally evenly split to create a flow. We are determined not to be an office space to cater for everyone's needs this means we spend less on admin which also means we charge less. It's not just about reducing costs though it's also about getting everyone involved. We have part time cowerker deal where people don't get a set of keys. Also, drop ins are welcome, but they obviously don't get keys. Full time-ish cowerkers get keys as do deskspace and studio space people. We try to answer the phone as much as possible, but quite often we are running around the building attending to stuff. However, when people sign up we make it clear what the deal is: - we're not here to attend to their every need - we try our best to be around - we will support them wherever possible - if we are not around other people answer the buzzer, make sure they are known, let them in and even show them around the building if no one is here to do that. The more experienced people do this, the new ones see it happen and will probably eventually get the opportunity to do it one day :) - we provide the tools for people to clean up after themselves (washing up liquid, sponges) - everyone makes a conscious effort to support and meet the people around them - they know who and where to call if there is a serious problem - werkers without keys are encouraged to come in from 10am. At the moment there is always someone here to let them in, but in the early days it wasn't always the case so we had to make the extra effort to be around. On the face of it the typical person won't get this, but the actual result it brings is lovely. Werkers/members end up feeling more responsible and part of the community, and for us that is a big part of what we are trying to achieve. 2008/11/24 jbb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Greetings, > > This forum has been a wonderful resource. Thank you all! > I am in the pre-catalyst (?) stage here in Portland Maine.I have the > opportunity to lease a nice space, and am trying to work out the > logistics. > My obstacle right now is that in order to have flexibility in > scheduling (drop-in, part-time, etc.) I believe I'd need someone to be > at a front desk all the time. > However, we don't have someone available to do that. I'd happily do it > myself, but I travel too much. > Hiring someone seems out of the question, being too expensive, even if > they had something to do. (It's a small space. Three private offices > and up to eight workstations.) > For the ease of administration, I'm leaning toward just having people > do full-time. Far better than working alone, but not the variety and > flexibility I would ideally like. > > So, I ask, what have other people done? > > Any thoughts are much appreciated! > > > Jene > > > > -- Rosie Sherry www.rosiesherry.com www.thewerks.org.uk www.projectbrighton.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
