Coworking manager : THE precious resource of coworking spaces

If you have recently visited a coworking space, whatever the brand, you must have been welcomed by a quality host: the coworking manager or hospitality manager. A person with a multiple profile whose daily mission is to welcome you in his coworking space, to manage it and to animate it according to the events and the seasons. An emerging profession that acts as a Swiss Army knife for the pleasure of coworkers and companies.

What are the missions of the coworking manager?

The coworking manager is the perfect link between coworkers and the managers of centers and companies that rent work spaces for their employees. He is the face of the coworking center. His role is at the crossroads of several professions and he is very much in demand on subjects related to the management of spaces, general services, administration or even the animation of the catalog of services that he pilots with a master's hand.

Thus, the missions of the coworking manager or space manager revolve around three main areas:

• The logistic and technical management of the coworking space
• The animation of the coworkers community through animations, events and an enriched service offer
• Commercial communication to maintain the link with the client companies and to respond to incoming rental requests.

Périnne L. Space Manager in one of the WeWork centers confided to us that "My job is much richer than that of an Office Manager in a company or that of a polyvalent secretary. Today I take on a variety of consequent missions and I am at the heart of the reactor: without the coworking manager the marketing of spaces is not done and the very soul of the center is no longer. "

Florian, who works for Morning, agrees : "Managing a Morning space means making sure that all of our roommates have a good day's work every day: keeping the place in order, providing entertainment, marketing...

Combining all these aspects of the job allows us to do several things: to learn very diverse and complementary skills, but also to have days that are never the same, alternating between office work and field missions, and all this in an extremely close-knit and united team. Add to that the numerous daily meetings with people working in very different fields, and you're sure to never get bored managing a Morning space!

How does the coworking manager participate in the rental of work spaces?

If his role is central in the rental of workspaces, whether closed offices or open spaces, the role of the coworking manager is also and above all to rely on the strength of efficient networks able to act as business facilitators. And here you are rightly thinking about workin.space.

Indeed, as the coworking market has literally exploded in the last few years, coworking brands have had to use techniques to stand out in this highly competitive environment. In the current market context, the service and event programming appears as one of the differentiation axes to promote and animate its space. It is then up to the coworking manager to implement a planning of animations adapted to the needs for the users and relatively innovative. Moreover, if some events are only reserved for members and the coworking community, others can be open to a larger number of people (journalists, partners, associations, local authorities, representatives of the CCI...) in order to promote the image of the center outside the walls.

3 questions to Clémence, Coworking Manager at Hiptown

How do you manage to identify the services to be implemented in your space?

"There are several ways to implement services in a coworking space. First of all, there is the deployment and support of so-called classic services on which we must ensure relative operational excellence. I'm thinking of services such as welcoming customers, guaranteeing clean and secure spaces, providing access to equipment and tools that allow various tasks to be carried out without hindrance...

Secondly, for centers that are part of the DNA of a brand such as ours, it is necessary to ensure the visibility and deployment of so-called differentiating services that echo the brand.

Finally, it is important to manage the spaces with common sense and to ensure that coworkers are receptive: if a service is not used or is not used much despite regular requests, it means that it does not meet the expectations of the coworkers in that center. To evaluate these needs, we spend time explaining the use of each space and conduct regular surveys to validate the appreciation of each of the services offered.

Our living space is constantly evolving. Nothing is set in stone. Additional services appear from one month to the next according to demand. This is the case of the private offices for the day, including lunch, for which requests are numerous. Members also submit many ideas that deserve to be thought about: pro/perso storytelling workshop for example."

What actions do you find most effective in getting users to rent space at your location?

"We rely a lot on platforms and business providers to make the transition between search and choice criteria. We are a tool, a solution that experts or partners can recommend based on the client's needs.

In addition, we put a lot of energy into communication and into making our spaces more attractive, since we are convinced that word of mouth is decisive in the decision to set up a business. We therefore encourage people to come and test the spaces, and you know this better than I do, testing our spaces means adopting them.

Finally, the personalization of the welcome and the hyper-reactivity in our commercial proposals are essential to make people want to visit. I really want each prospect to be able to project himself through an authentic, friendly, professional and relaxed atmosphere."

How do you see your business evolving?

"I think that the future of coworking centers will tend towards more and more services and support. I think my business will certainly evolve into something that is always cross-functional with more metrics. Today, we have to reassure our customers that they have made the right choice and this will necessarily be done by analyzing the relevance of our spaces and our solutions, with supporting evidence.

In conclusion, as hospitality managers, we become experts in small customer problems and every day a little better thanks to anticipation. We have a lot of imagination to find solutions and are used to changes. So we are ready to respond to new uses with concrete and practical solutions. You need 10 soundproof phone booths in your office? Ok we have! "

A business that is both rich and strategic, which tends to structure itself and become more professional to meet users' expectations and justify the benefits of decentralized work. See you in 2023 to follow closely the evolution of this changing profession and discover the initiatives implemented to measure happiness and performance in coworking spaces.