More and more remote employees, freelancers, and other working professionals are now looking to perform their jobs at coworking spaces. In fact, its worldwide coworking space market is projected to grow from $30.45 billion in 2025 to $58.95 billion by 2032 at a 9.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
However, new members want to get started fast. No stacks of forms and no hunting for passwords. They just want to sign up and start working. That's why digital onboarding has become essential for coworking spaces.
As most teams work remotely or in a hybrid setup now, the membership journey happens online. People discover your space, take virtual tours, sign up, pay, and even get door access without touching paper or meeting anyone face-to-face. This shift means shared space operators need onboarding that works smoothly and follows the law.
When you build a compliant onboarding flow, you're not just saving time but protecting member data and your team from future headaches. It keeps everything running smoothly as your community grows.
So, keep reading to learn how to create a legally sound digital onboarding flow for your new coworking space members.
The legal requirements of onboarding new coworking space members
Onboarding at a coworking space seems pretty straightforward. This simply entails collecting information and sending contracts, as well as taking payments and giving instant access. However, there's more to this than meets the eye, legally speaking, though.
First impressions matter: onboarding that WOWs
The legal requirements to keep in mind:
Data protection: The EU's GDPR sets strict rules if you serve EU residents. Meanwhile, UK operators should review the ICO's guidance on UK GDPR. In California, residents have rights under CCPA/CPRA for data access and deletion.
Contracts and e-signatures: Electronic agreements work fine legally. The US has the ESIGN Act for consumer consent and validity. On the other hand, the EU uses the eIDAS regulation for electronic identification.
Payments: If you’re handling card data, you need to familiarize yourself with the PCI DSS compliance. Meanwhile, EU payments often require Strong Customer Authentication under PSD2.
Mobile access: Biometric entry methods like fingerprinting, are increasingly risky from a legal standpoint due to biometric privacy laws, such as BIPA. Many coworking operators are now shifting toward smartphone-based access control, which offers a more compliant and flexible alternative.
Heed our advice: You don’t just make your coworking space profitable, but also highly compliant. Skip compliance, and you risk fines, contract disputes, chargebacks, and scrambling to fix things at the worst time.
Key elements of a digital onboarding flow
It’s crucial to know the anatomy of a coworking space, and so is setting a digital onboarding flow for new members. A very good coworking space onboarding includes:
- Initial member verification and background checks
- Issuance of contracts and e-signatures
- Data privacy and consent management
- Payment processing setup
- Introduction to community guidelines and rules
Each step should flow naturally into the next. No big jumps, no confusion. Learn how to set the onboarding journey of new coworking members in the next section.
How to design a new coworking space member’s onboarding journey
It’s important to structure your coworking space memberships for business profitability and growth. But to begin, pay particular attention to your onboarding process to guide people from being interested visitors to becoming confident members. Show what’s coming and avoid surprises as well as make each step feel manageable.
When your new members know what to expect and can get the help that they need, they’re more likely to complete onboarding smoothly and start using your coworking space regularly. Here’s how to design your new coworking members’ onboarding journey:
1. Create a user-friendly interface design
To start, keep it simple. Design your onboarding so new members can complete it without thinking twice or asking for help. Short forms, clear labels, and visible progress indicators reduce friction. They keep people moving forward instead of dropping off halfway through.
2. Incorporate personalization features
Different members need different paths. Someone signing up for a virtual office needs different questions than someone renting a private office. Adjust your questions, contracts, and access based on their plan, location, and whether they're signing up as an individual or company.
For example, if a new member signs up as a business with a handful of employees needing coworking space long-term, the onboarding flow can specifically cover insurance coverage. A short section should clearly explain liability coverage and accident reporting for a commercial property.
This should entail how a work injury claim process would apply within the coworking space and how members get covered. This may also include collecting proof of workers’ compensation insurance and outlining the steps to report an incident on-site. Ultimately, clarify which responsibilities fall on the employer versus the space operator.
3. Consider automated steps vs. personal interactions
Let computers handle the boring stuff, but keep the human element. Automation should remove friction, not replace connection. When routine tasks like document collection, payments, and access setup run in the background, your team has more time to focus on welcoming members and building relationships from the get-go.
4. Ensure clarity and simplicity at each stage
Content rule of thumb: write as you talk. Use short sentences and real examples. Don't just ask for a document; explain why you need it. Tell them when deposits get returned. Be upfront about late fees. Answer questions before they ask them.
5. Leverage digital tools and technologies
Most coworking spaces don’t need a stack of separate tools to onboard new members. Using multiple disconnected systems often creates data gaps and avoidable errors. Instead, look for a coworking management system that brings key onboarding functions into one platform.
A well-designed system should cover the following essentials:
- Member management: Store member details and documents in one place. A single source of truth helps teams stay organized.
- Digital contracts and e-signatures: Built-in eSignature tools allow members to sign agreements online with proper audit trails. Keeping contracts within the same system simplifies recordkeeping and compliance.
- Billing and payments: Integrated billing makes it easier to manage recurring memberships, including invoices and deposits. When payments are tied directly to member accounts, billing stays accurate and transparent.
Take Spacebring’s sign-up process as an example, which is crucial to the onboarding process.
This platform supports digital contracts with built-in eSignature, allowing members to complete agreements on their own without waiting for staff intervention. Once the paperwork is signed, onboarding can continue automatically, enabling members to access the space and start working right away.
6. Establish a legally sound process
Compliance takes proper planning. To ensure legal compliance, here’s what you need to do:
Conduct legal audits and risk assessments. List every place you collect data. What do you gather? Why? How long do you keep it? Who can see it? Where's it stored?
Consult with legal professionals. Get a lawyer to review your membership agreement, rules, privacy policy, and even refund terms. Operating internationally? Check your data transfer setup (the EU's Standard Contractual Clauses are common).
Update documentation regularly. Laws change. GDPR guidance shifts, CCPA became CPRA. Date and version your contracts. For clickwrap agreements, follow best practices for clear consent.
Train staff on legal responsibilities. Your team needs to know data handling rules, deletion request procedures, and incident response. The DOJ has web accessibility guidance: see ADA web guidance. Meanwhile, the W3C's WCAG 2.1 sets accessibility standards for onboarding.
Don't forget to log. Keep audit logs for signatures, consent, access changes. Set data deletion schedules so you're not holding information forever.
Final words
Digital onboarding is where your promises meet legal requirements. Keep it quick, friendly, and compliant so you can grow without problems. Here's what to do:
- Map your process: list steps, responsible people, data collected, systems used
- Write clear contracts with proper e-signatures and audit trails
- Collect only necessary data with explicit consent and deletion schedules
- Set up payments with PCI-compliant providers and transparent billing
- Design for accessibility (WCAG 2.1) and mobile users
- Connect your CRM, signatures, billing, access systems
- Add human help where people usually get stuck
- Review legal and security quarterly and document changes
- Train staff on privacy requests, incidents, member support
Remember that the right technology is your best defense. By automating the legal checks and balances, you ensure that every new member is onboarded compliantly without you ever having to chase a signature or worry about a data audit.
Ready to put your compliance on autopilot? See how Spacebring can turn a complex legal process into a seamless welcome for your new members. Learn more about our onboarding features or chat with our team.
