Set up sessions (we recommend Mon, Wed, Fri 2-5pm)
End of day is best since teams are winding down and hanging out.
Avoid times where everyone is in back-to-back meetings.
It's ok if some folks have a few meetings scheduled during Coworking.
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Send a recurring calendar invite
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Don’t make attendance or video mandatory
Asking your team about Sidekick?
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Why Coworking Sessions?
When we first released Sidekick, we hadn't figured out Coworking Sessions yet. Teams would hop in and out whenever they wanted to hang out. This doesn't work because everyone will go on at different times.
With Coworking Sessions, you create a block of time where your team knows that if they want to hang out, Coworking Sessions is when the team will be around.
How to find the best time for Coworking Sessions (even with time zones)
From interviewing hundreds of teams, we recommend 2-5pm Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Your team will enjoy the end of the day the most — that's naturally when work starts to wind down and people chit-chat more.
Avoid scheduling Coworking Sessions during time slots that are really meeting-heavy. However, it's totally fine if some of your team has some meetings during Coworking Sessions — it's probably impossible to find time where literally everyone is free!
If your team is split across time zones, pick one time zone to anchor to for the end of the day. For example, we have a team split between London and San Francisco. They do 4-6pm GMT which is 8-10am PT.
For advice, feel free to drop your email here and we'll reach out.
Send out a calendar reminder
Send out a calendar invite to remind your team, and make sure it's marked as "free" so people know they can still schedule meetings.
Do not make attendance or video mandatory
Counterintuitively, you'll get better attendance and a more engaged team if you don't make attending every Coworking Session mandatory.
Your teammates should join a session only if they want to join. Your teammate might be really stressed with personal issues, feeling under the weather or maybe they just don't feel like socializing that day. That's totally ok, the goal is not 100% attendance 100% of days. See how Mercury set up their team culture.
From our research, we found that just one forced session on Sidekick will decrease that teammates desire to join the next session by 50%.
On the flip side, if your team's experience on Sidekick is purely positive and everyone on Sidekick is excited to be there, you'll get the most sustainable attendance and the most fun conversations.
