Guides
Getting reliable hands in a coworking space
Hiring for a coworking space means covering the desk, the tours, the member onboarding and the January rush. Write the role as work, then test it on the floor.
What to take away
- A community manager who cannot run a tour, a room booking and a guest arrival alone is not hired yet, whatever the resume says.
- Write each role as tasks on a named calendar weekopening the space, covering the desk, handling January sign-ups.
- Test candidates on the real floor, not in conversation. Watch them book a room and greet a guest.
- Keep one written record of who may hold keys, reset access control and approve a member's spend.
- Check wage, overtime and recordkeeping duties against the U.S. Department of Labor small-business guidance before the first offer.
This article covers coworking operations only. It is not legal, tax, insurance or safety advice. Employment duties, building rules and accessibility requirements vary by state, city and lease, so confirm them with your state labor office, your local authority having jurisdiction and a licensed attorney.
Start from the week, not the title
A coworking hire is a set of hours on a floor. Write the week first: who opens at 7, who covers the desk at noon, who runs the 6 p.m. event teardown.
A Coworking Week on the Floor
- 7 a.m.Open the space
- NoonCover the desk
- 6 p.m.Event teardown
- Tuesday-SaturdayDesk coverage
- DailyTwo tours
Then list what that person touches. Desk and office use. Room booking. Guest arrival and sign-in. Access control. Billing questions. Renewals and cancellations.
A role described as "front of house" tells you nothing. A role described as "covers the desk Tuesday to Saturday, runs two tours a day, books rooms, greets guests" tells you what to test.
The five things to verify before you offer
- Tour.Can they walk a prospect through the space, name the membership tiers and answer a pricing question without guessing?
- Desk and office use.Do they know which desks are hot, which offices are held, and what happens when a member sits in the wrong one?
- Room booking.Can they take a booking, resolve a double-booking and explain the cancellation window?
- Guest arrival.Do they sign a guest in, reach the host and handle a walk-in who has no appointment?
- January sign-ups.January is when coworking demand spikes. Can they process several sign-ups in a day without dropping the desk?
Run the test during an ordinary week first. Then run it again on a busy day, because that is when the gap shows.
Five Things to Verify
- Tourname tiers, answer pricing
- Desk usehot desks vs held offices
- Room bookingdouble-booking, cancellation window
- Guest arrivalsign-in, host, walk-in
- January sign-upsseveral in a day
What to check in the law, and where
Three federal sources cover most of what a small operator needs to confirm. Read them before you write the offer, not after.
Three Federal Sources to Check
OSHA
- Covers
- Emergency plans
- Includes
- Evacuation, training
- Watch for
- Members and guests
DOL
- Covers
- Wage and overtime
- Includes
- Timekeeping, leave
- Watch for
- Long desk shifts
EEOC
- Covers
- Nondiscrimination
- Includes
- Accommodations, notices
- Watch for
- Fair hiring records
- Occupational Safety and Health AdministrationEmergency Action Plans sets out what an emergency plan covers: reporting, evacuation, accountability, rescue or medical duties, contacts, training and review. In a coworking space the plan has to account for members and guests, not just staff.
- U.S. Department of LaborNew and Small Businesses covers wage, overtime, timekeeping, child labor, leave, notice and recordkeeping duties. Overtime for a desk shift that runs long is the one operators miss most.
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity CommissionSmall Business Resource Center covers nondiscrimination, accommodations, employment records, workplace notices and fair hiring decisions.
None of the three tells you what your state requires. Your state labor office does.
Who may do what
Keep one current list of restricted tasks and who is cleared for them. Keys and access control codes. Refunds and billing adjustments. Handling a member's card or bank details. Locking up alone.
Review that list on a schedule. A person who has held a key for two years is not automatically cleared to reset the door system after a vendor visit.
Write the scorecard before the interview
For each role, put down the decisions the person makes alone. Also note the tasks they own and the customer contact they handle. Include the records they keep and the equipment they use. Add the schedule and the escalation path. Describe what a good first six months looks like.
Use the scorecard to run the interview, not to grade a personality. Ask every candidate the same job-related questions and write down the evidence each one gives.
The coworking space hiring and training guide walks through the training side of the same process once someone is in the seat.
A worked example: the January desk
Say your space has 120 members and adds 15 in a normal month. In January that might be 40. Each sign-up takes a tour, an agreement, a payment setup and an access card.
If one person handles all four steps, the desk stops answering the phone. Split it: one person on tours, one on paperwork, one on the desk. That is a staffing decision you make in November, not on January 3.
Common questions
How do I test a candidate without paying them for a shift?
Set a paid working interview of two to three hours on the floor. Have them run a tour and take a room booking while a current staff member watches. Pay them for the time, and tell them what you are watching for before they start.
What should the first-quarter review cover?
Review against the written role, not against how well liked the person is. Did they cover the desk, run tours, process sign-ups and keep the records? Then decide whether to expand the role, retrain or end it.
Do I need a written emergency plan for a coworking space?
OSHA's guidance describes what a plan covers and when one is expected. Whether yours is required, and what your local fire authority will inspect, depends on your building and jurisdiction. Ask the authority having jurisdiction and a licensed inspector.
Can I check references before making an offer?
Yes, and you should. Ask about reliability first and skill second. A member leaving at once, or a January rush handled badly, is where reliability shows up in this business.
