Challenge #3 – Update your Membership Agreement and Code of Conduct

When we welcome a new member into our space or online community, we begin the relationship by making our expectations of each other clear. Members will want to know how things work, and to understand their rights and responsibilities. We assist our members with this transition by giving them an orientation tour, by letting them try out the facilities to get a feel for the workspace culture, and by introducing them to other members in the space.

To prevent confusion and conflict, we must also clearly define what is required of our members, what they can expect from us, and from each other.

A Membership Agreement is an essential coworking document and it outlines the terms of this exchange. Every coworking space likely has some version of this document, but many of them only cover the physical experience – not the entire experience a member has when joining a community.

It is essential that every Membership Agreement includes a Code of Conduct. Public events, coworking conferences, and virtual communities including Facebook and Clubhouse gatherings should also be held with a Code of Conduct in place.

The Code of Conduct is an agreement between all participants, no matter their role in the organization or event. This code defines acceptable behaviour within the group, how to provide feedback or report any concerns, and what the conflict resolution process will be.

Your Code of Conduct should also include anti-racism, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment policies to ensure a safe and positive space and experience for everyone.

There are many different ways to draft your Code of Conduct, and here are a few resources and examples you can use to help while you create or update this document:

Cobot – The Coworking Code of Conduct Template

Indy Hall’s Code of Conduct

Coworking Canada – Event Code of Conduct

We’ve prepared a CHECKLIST for you to review your current Membership Agreement and Code of Conduct. This tool is meant to be a starting point for an internal audit, and to launch a meaningful conversation with your members and peers.

The Membership Agreement and Code of Conduct are living documents, and should be updated annually – with member consultation. This April, we challenge you to review and update your Membership Agreement to ensure it includes a detailed Code of Conduct to help you create a safer, more inclusive coworking space and/or event.

If you would like more support while creating new anti-discrimination or anti-harassment policies, you may benefit from collaborating with others in your local alliance, or joining one of the many IDEA conversations and workshops throughout the month. The UK Coworking Assembly, Coworking Canada, Women Who Cowork, Cobot, and other regional collectives will be sharing their resources and hosting Code of Conduct work sprints and workshops in many different time zones. Visit the April IDEA event calendar for more details!

Don’t forget to register below for the April IDEA Meetup – we’d love to hear how you did with this month’s challenge.

All are welcome <3

Thank you to Cobot, our April IDEA Challenge Sponsor
Cobot is the leading management software for coworking spaces, office hubs, and flexible workspaces around the world. The Cobot team believes in the possibilities of coworking and enabling a collaborative, flexible, and ethical future of work.