What Coworking Operators Need to Be Tracking with Katy Tennant and Ben Newton

If you have ever wondered which numbers actually matter for a coworking space like yours, this episode lays it out. Ben Newton, Operations Director at Patch and Katy Tennant, Director of Operations for UK and EU at Clockwise Offices, spend their days deep in operations and in this conversation recorded live at GCUC UK in Manchester they walked through what an operator should be keeping an eye on and why. Katy described a balanced view of a healthy business. Your occupancy, however you define it, your revenue across all its different streams, the costs you can control set against the ones you cannot, your profit, some honest measure of how members feel and your retention and churn so you know who you are holding onto and why anyone leaves. Ben shared about the coffee chat, where your team has a real, unscripted conversation with a few members each week and notes what comes up, then reads it alongside your reviews and any survey you send. He also made a strong case for keeping a separate set of figures for every site from the very start, even with no plans to grow, so your central costs never disappear into a black hole. Ben has been building an anonymised way for operators to benchmark their operating costs against one another, because knowing whether what you spend on cleaning or maintenance is in line with everyone else is something you simply cannot work out alone. Key Takeaways For Coworking & Flexible Workspace Operators 1. Track a balanced set, not a single number. Occupancy, revenue, the costs you control, profit, member sentiment and churn together tell you far more than any one of them alone. 2. Separate the costs you can control from the ones you cannot. Cleaning and member spend are within reach in a way that rates and utilities are not, so watch them differently. 3. The coffee chat is the easiest place to start with member sentiment. Real, unscripted conversations noted down each week build a clear picture over time. 4. Keep a separate set of figures for each site from day one. Even with no plans to grow, it stops your central costs disappearing into a black hole. 5. Some answers only come from comparing notes with other operators. Knowing whether your operating costs are in line is something you cannot work out in isolation. These conversations are brought to you in collaboration with GCUC UK. #coworkingspace #coworking #coworkingcommunity #flexibleworkspace #coworkingspaces #gcucuk