A happy life in a shared office space
Posted on 21st November 2023 at 13:35
With the rise in popularity of working from home, more and more businesses are choosing to offer their employees a hybrid working model. This means they may be downsizing their office spaces or providing co-working or other flexible options.
Whilst this is great news for many employees and can be a great money-saving exercise, not having a dedicated desk space and sharing facilities with people you are not as familiar with can present challenges. It is of course super exciting to work in a different way to the old office norms!
With that in mind, we thought we would share with you some great tips to ensure that the office stays the welcoming place we all want it to be.
Arrival
When you arrive, you may need to find a parking space. If the car park is set out with allocated bays, make sure you are in the right area and not parking in a private parking spot. This not only avoids someone having to come and find you later, it also means you won’t be disturbed from your work by having to move the car. It might seem like a little thing but considerate parking is often the key to a happy workday.
Your desk for the day
Find the desk you will be using for the day, at Square Feet the team will normally help you to get yourself settled ready for work. Try not to encroach on anyone else’s workspace. Keep the space clean and tidy to be considerate to your co-workers and remember to take everything with you when you leave. Someone else may need to use the desk when you have gone!
Phone and video calls
We all know that one person who walks round the office with their phone on speaker shouting at the person on they are talking to.
Many coworking spaces have phone booths for you to use which are great because they are soundproof, try using these when you can.
If these aren’t available or they are all being used, headphones are your best friend. Particularly if what you are talking about is of a sensitive or private nature. Just don’t forget you can’t hear yourself when you have headphones on so try to avoid raising your voice while using them!
The facilities
This is a nice, easy one. Leave the communal spaces in as good, or better condition than you found them. Wash up your mug and spoon or pop it in the dishwasher. If you spill the milk or drop something, please clear it up!
The biggest upset we see with shared kitchens (apart from mess) is mugs! A lot of people will bring in their own mugs because they like a certain type or size or brand and can get pretty distressed to fine someone else has used it.
Most shared spaces have visitors mugs available – be it plain mugs or company branded, take a tip from us and if you haven’t got your own mug, stick with one of these to avoid an episode of office “mug gate”!
Printer (water cooler) chats
This is a tricky one – you don’t want to be rude so you stop for a chat whilst you wait to use the photocopier or pick up your printing, then you’re still there an hour later because you can’t seem to find a way to end the conversation politely but you’re on a deadline! You’ve checked your watch a few times and have started the one-word responses and head nods but they aren’t picking up the signals.
If you don’t know what we mean, then you could be the person doing the talking but haven’t noticed because you had a rough day and need to let off some steam. Try to be aware of people’s body language and responsiveness – if they aren’t actively participating in the conversation they may be trying to get back to their work so wind up the conversation. If they want to stay and chat, they will start it up again.
Overall
When you think about it it’s all fairly common stuff - be polite, think of the people around you and tidy up after yourself!
We welcome all sorts of people, businesses and groups at Square Feet and we want everyone to enjoy their time with us so this is just a few ideas of how everyone can work alongside each other more harmoniously.
See you soon,
Caroline
Community Manager
Like what you've read?
There are lots of ways you can be part of the Square Feet family – from Coworking to serviced offices, using our meeting rooms to our Virtual office solution or even as one of our amazing trusted local suppliers!
We would love to connect with you and see how we can work together or even keep you up to date with what’s going on at Square Feet so please do get in touch by clicking here.
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