So, you’ve just joined the THINQTANQ family or maybe you’re an older family member who wants to remind themselves of the unwritten rules of coworking spaces. Though these are unwritten rules and aren’t enforced they are a great way to not be “that person”.
Calls, Zooms and Tech
We know how important zoom and team calls have become over the last 3 years! Being able to communicate with anyone and everyone at any time is great right? Though maybe it’s not so great when the desk user next to you doesn’t have their headphones in or is a dreaded zoom shouter. So how do we not be the desk user next to you? Well, the first thing is don’t forget those headphones! They are the key to coworking if you just want to be in the zone or if you have a zoom-based job headphones make everyone less grouchy. If you don’t like headphones you can always rent out the meeting room (full-time members don’t forget you get free usage) this way you can be as loud as you want and have the volume up!
The next don’t be “that person” rule is to do with your phone! Similarly to the beauty of zooms we all have work and personal emails, calls, texts and various social media platforms. As much as we would love to feel envious of your thriving work and social life hearing your phone ping can be disturbing (or even build up some false hope that we ourselves have friends and colleges who want to talk to us). So just pop them on silent or do not disturb, and the same thing applies to laptops and computers being muted unless you have headphones connected. These two simple things have a huge impact on noise levels within THINQTANQ.
The final noise-related thing to consider is volume, whether that be in your voice or in your headphones. As much as we are all a bit nosey, hearing everyone’s conversations isn’t as fun especially when it is a zoom call. These are common situations where people often feel they need to shout or raise their voice to be understood when in fact (especially with today’s headphone microphones) that isn’t the case. The same thing goes for when you’ve got the kettle on, just because it’s bubbling your tea away the person you are talking to can still hear you and therefore there is no need to shout.
Desk Owners
From here things move into objects and things. Those of you with full-time desks are able to keep belongings at THINQTANQ though, there is one condition. We love letting you keep your belongings here but please try to contain them on your desk. This leaves desks obviously free for other users who might be new or who might be hot desking. Though some of you don’t have the perk of leaving your belongings at THINQTANQ it is still important to keep your things on your own hot desk and remember to take them home!
Now if you are one of those cool HotDeskers who come and see us every so often or a couple of times a month or if you’re new. You may not know how to tell if a desk is free! Simply check out the cool name tags on the desk. Like traffic lights, green means it’s free for your usage but black signage with a name on it or one that is just black means that you are unable to use the desk. Blacked-out desks are owned by a full-time user and are classified as being theirs.
Meeting Room
The newly refurbished meeting rooms are a great place for confidential zoom calls, those who don’t like headphones or those weekly team meetings. But make sure you book it out otherwise it’s free for others to use when you need it! Speaking of bookings, make sure you check the bookings and only book it for yourself to use at the time if it’s free (you can check if it is free on the small tablet by the kitchen)! It might be booked out with no one in there as they may be running late or collecting people for meetings so always make sure you check.
Meeting room doors should also be closed during usage. The main point in the meeting room is the ability to talk in privacy, if the doors are open then the privacy element goes whilst also disturbing other members of THINQTANQ with noise. So just ensure you close the doors when using the room.
Kitchen Space
Offering the kitchen space for free use to everyone is a great idea, letting everyone use the facilities for free whilst saving you money on food or coffee. We love everyone using it however, it is important to remember here at THINQTANQ we have no cleaner (other than Phyllis) so cleaning up after yourself if you spill anything, or if you use the coffee machine is something we ask kindly. It makes the space nicer if dishes and mugs are placed into the dishwasher, and it makes appliances last longer if they are taken care of so just give them a little extra care in their old age.
These simple cleaning rules can be applied within the rest of the workspace too, cleaning up messes in the bathroom or at least (even though embarrassing) notifying someone of any mess or problems. Or even problems or messes at your desk.
Doing these four things can lead to making THINQTANQ a more positive and friendly place to work still having its homely environment but with small considerations. Click here if you would like to download a copy of this handy guide.