Coworking Space - Facilities and Benefits
Coworking Space Facilities
With the state of the world at the moment, most companies are opting for a coworking space instead of having a building all to themselves. This saves them on the rent and utilities plus it's fun to work with different companies in the same space! A coworking space is a space shared by more than one company allowing saving on certain costs. Here are some facilities and policies that should make the ideal coworking space successful (in my opinion):
24-Hour Access
Entrepreneurs sleep, but entrepreneurship never does. Any entrepreneur may need the space to work late at night. So give 24-hour access to the office with the ability to buzz in guests after hours.
Guest Rooms with Bathrooms
You never know when someone is in such a situation that they need a guest room to spend a night. I am not saying you need to convert it into a hotel, but you still need a spare room to be always prepared.
Free Invitation for Entrepreneurs and Creative Professionals
Invite entrepreneurs and other professionals. Let your users suggest who you should invite. It markets the co-working space. Also, divide the space into zones to create different vibes.
Lots of After-hours Event Programs for Tenant Interaction
Event programming is a programming paradigm in which the flow of programming is determined by the events. Not just technically, you should do this to make the environment better too.
Tenant Logos on the walls
Marketing is the blood of the business. So, make sure you do everything to market your brand. Many people use the co-working space to shoot professional videos. It will market your space. However, don't stuff the whole office with your logo. One at the entrance and some on the walls are enough for the marketing purpose.
Graffiti for Brain-storming
Graffiti is a sign of a young creative mind. Having one on some walls of your co-working space will help people think creatively. You should also leave some blank white walls as some people just like to stare at the plane wall to think differently.
Lots of Whiteboards
You cannot think of a startup without a plan. And plans need to be visually represented. To write their imaginations, people will need whiteboards with wall-mounted markers & erasers
Ashwini
Casual Group Communications Areas
Professionals are not just colleges, they are friends too. And I am sure you don't want some friends to disturb everyone in the space. So it is better to have a separate area where groups of people can chat with each other.
Closed Sound-proof Rooms with Great Acoustics
The space can have light music in the background or white noise for people to stay focused. You can divide the area with different background noise for different kind of people. Do not forget to make the space soundproof.
Private working Nooks
Some people may need to be alone to focus for some time. It will be great if you have a corner room with bright lighting where anyone can spend some time.
Dorm Rooms for Individuals to Brain-storm
Co-working spaces are much more important for freelancers than other business entrepreneurs. So, you need to provide some good service to freelancers too. A personal dorm room where they can work peacefully will make the freelancers happy.
Food Court
As the entrepreneurs and freelancers will not be able to go home for a break or go out somewhere, due to lack of time, they will need food at the space itself. You need to provide good quality food to them with a prepaid card and credit payment plan.
Junk-food and Snack Bar
Junk food may not be healthy, but they are great when you are in hurry but need to eat something. Also, the snack bar will make it even faster for them to have a little treat while working.
LAN Gaming Ready Work-stations
Gaming is life for almost all the tech entrepreneur. Many people play video games to be stress-free. So, you have to have a gaming-ready work-station with a good LAN connection.
Acoustically-isolated Telephone Booths
As we previously mentioned that you need to have either white noise or light music in the background but it is not always good. Some people may need a space where they can peacefully talk on phone. So, it is important to have a dedicated place which will be noise free and where everyone will get a good connection.
A Studio for Podcast/Video Recording
Youtube and podcasting are becoming very popular these days. Hence, you need to have a studio in your Co-Working space where people can record their audio and work on it.
A Green Screen Section in that Room
As I said, Youtube is becoming popular, there is a strong possibility that you can have some Youtubers coming to work on their projects. However, people don't record in old style these days. So, Youtubers will be looking for a green screen where they can record the video and then easily edit it.
Shubham Kumar
Super-fast WIFI
This one is the most important. Each and every person who will be coming into your space will need the internet every second he/she is in there. So, you need to have a super fast WiFi connection.
Lots and lots of wall Power Sockets
No, No! We cannot forget it at any cost. You need to have at least one power socket after ever 1 feet distance.
Free-flowing Caffeine in Multiple Varieties
Coders consume more coffee cups while creating software than they write codes. So, you need to provide the caffeine into many forms. For instance, a machine should be capable of creating black coffee as well as normal milk coffee.
Free Snacks in the Fridge
Don't expect them to be so lost in their work that they will not even feel hungry. You need to keep some free snacks so that people can have something whenever they feel peckish.
A High Capacity Microwave and Grill in the Cafeteria
People may bring their own food and want to warm it up. So, a microwave will be more than enough for them. You can also have some BBQ grill in there.
Either Warm White or Daylight Diffuse Lighting
Very bright light can be very annoying to some people. Having a warm light will be a great help to some eyes.
Comfortable Ergonomic Chairs and Desks
Office ergonomic chairs and desks are totally different from normal desks and chairs. So you need to choose some good quality ergonomic chairs. Remember, a bad choice can affect someone's health.
Sleeping Bags
Might sound stupid, but there can be some situation when someone needs to remain at the office. So it is better to be always prepared.
Projector and TV in each Networking Room
Projectors or TVs are important for corporate meetings. People who need them will probably from mid-sized corporations and so, they can be a big lead for you.
Smart Classroom Whiteboards for the Projectors
You may have seen them in the school's smart classrooms. They are touch sensitive and can be used as a touchscreen for projectors.
Easy Access to Public Transport
Not everyone will have a personal transport. Also, it not even good to have one unless it is electric. So, it will be great to have the office which will be near some bus station or can be easily located by cab drivers.
Location should be near Cafes and Shopping complexes
Some people may not like the eateries of your cafeteria. Having the space office near some restaurants and cafes will be a great plus for entrepreneurs.
Game Room
A game room with toys like LEGO and remote controlled toys to play with will make your co-working space the coolest place to work. That Game room should also have board games, pool table, foosball, and video gaming consoles too.
An Auditorium to Host Events and Movie Nights
It will just make your space more fun for people who don't like gaming. Also, you can hold some events there like a speech by some entrepreneurs, etc.
Resident Advisors and Mentors
If you can provide mentorship to your customers, what could be better than that?
Expandable/Contractable Space Arrangements
Someday, someone will need more space than usual. You need to be ready.
Shubham Kumar
Resident Lawyers
You may need them someday. So have some good contacts.
Mailboxes to Collect Postage
Many of your users will ask you to receive postages on their behalf. So, you can simply place a mailbox to collect all the mails in one place.
Demo days for Graduating Companies
Some people don't believe so easily. So, you need to provide them some demo days to experience the co-working space.
Printing Shop
Provide an in-house printing shop in the coworking space retail block along with the food court. It will make you some bucks and serve your user as well.
Regular Chair Massage Appointments on Call
Just another cherry on the cake. But it will be useful and your users may appreciate it. Just make sure to provide it at a reasonable price.
Printer in every Room
Yes, you can provide a printer in each and every room and ask them to bring their own paper to print on. Also, they will pay for new cartridges.
If it's a very large space like Google's, scooters or Segway:
Saves time in traveling withing the facility plus its a whole lotta fun!
Other Facilities :
- Attended reception area for guests with seating
- Fast video conferencing equipment to skype partners, mentors, and investors
- Frequent value-adding visitors such as VCs and other mentors
- A day room for taking nap.
- An in-house presentation/graphic designer
- An in-house filmmaker
- A brand that can help validate their credibility
- An online wiki and/or physical bulletin board
- No-smoking environment
- Pet-friendly/respectful policy (for those who do/do not like them)
Sounds like a dream, doesn't it?
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