Working Parents Cooperative

[lisata]

Just created a Blog on this but I thought I might post it here too just in case I get more response!

As I sit in my home (child 3 is at nursery) - other two are at primary school getting ready for a talent show! I have been pondering this strange world we live in where the work place does not fit in with family life. I don?t really understand why it has to be this way - why does work automatically mean wringing every ounce of energy out of someone or a constantly be asked to push yourself that little bit further. Why can?t we create work places that fit in with school runs and holidays ? they might have to be different sorts of places from your average. A workplace should be a place to learn and engage with others - making money might not be the key issue!

What would happen if lets say a gang of parents were to get together, find a space with two rooms, set up a workplace in one room and a playroom in the other. People would do work/child care in shifts. If it were run as a cooperative then people could sign on for a couple of days a week. The pay would probably be low but it would give a focus - somewhere to go that belonged to them.

If one did set up such a group what sort of work could they do?

Would a call centre work?

How would you get clients to take you seriously? Dependent on the group of parents they might well be able to sell themselves as an above average group of employees - more liable to take clients seriously etc.

How would you cope with holidays?

Well I?m just pondering - never hurts to imagine what a utopia would be like!

I'm involved in a parent-run nursery, so I know how to do the playroom side of your space.

Ofsted is a bitch, let's put it that way.

You would need a professional to run the playroom, someone with proper qualifications, and they'd have to be there all the time (for continuity of childcare, too).

The sort of parents who go to our co-op, anyway, are generally professionals. I'd think an architecture practice, with a side line in ballet dancing and computer programming would be our best choice right now.

lisata, interesting.

The bit that I find most difficult is the requirement that the parents must work in a room right next to the playroom. I presume this is because the parents want to be close to and contactable by their children at all times.

Assuming children can be relied on not to trouble their parents in the next room (doubtful as anyone who has tried to work from home with young children will attest),
the need for a parents' room would incur rent. A more obvious choice to reduce costs would be for parents' to work at home remotely doing work that can be done independently. Even a call centre could be done dispersed and remotely in own homes? Not sure what this call centre would service though?

But parents working from home with children in separate playroom would mean separation. So to that extent, it is not much different from a parent going to work and leaving their children with friends.

Also, by parents being in the same room, the presumption is that they are generally doing work that is pretty much the same using the same type of office equipment. Otherwise, why not work separately from home? If so, the skills would be the lowest common denominator to take into account what is presumably a very diverse group of people. Again, that would seriously curtail the type and profitability of work these people can do.

Is there any work that would REQUIRE the parents to work together in one space that would justify paying the rent?

How about this group selling themselves as an outsourcing team to sort charity collections eg clothes. You could time your collections to coincide with term time, leaving your school holidays free? It would pay peanuts though.

Thanks for your posts - lovely to have some input ... I am feeling vaguely inspired by this idea for the first time in ages (although inspiration does tend to come to me in spring rather than winter!).

I too have been pondering whether it is necessary to have a playroom next door - why not just use the provision there is out there already. However I guess my key thought is that I would want to provide the social aspect of work - homeworking (and I've done it) can be lonely. Being a stay at home parent can also be very lonely - so by just taking on home-working one is not solving that problem. I also don't want childcare to be an issue that gets in the way of the work. So if childcaring can be shared amongst member of the group - even informally that would be a bonus.

Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself anyhow. The needs would depend on the group - in truth a cooperative could be made up of a mixture of parents and perhaps older members. The value lies in the fact that one is working collectively so you have more clout when it comes to approaching clients for work and you have more heads to come up with ideas and exploit contacts!

So childcare provision/need for an office would depend on the group in question and how far they have developed. Like most start ups we would probably start out meeting in someones home or a even a cafe and then move on from there.

I think probably the sort of work one would do would depend on the group again. Another point is that you could each train each other in skills that the other had. So for instance I could probably do web site design but the thought of setting up a company on my own doing that is just very daunting. It would be so much more fun with colleagues.

The cooperative could take on a portfolio of work types depending on its group membership.
It would work as a democratic organisation - so decisions would be taken collectively (read Maverick - Ricardo Semler or look at Fry-it.co.uk for an example of a company that works this way).

On the financial side - I don't think one can expect the renumeration to be equivalent to a professional working in a 9-5 job. However presuming as blueshoes noted these are likely to be professionals they would be able to sell themselves as such and also perhaps take advantage of location. So it should also not be peanuts. If you see this as an alternative to not working at all then the benefits of developing skills, social contact, flexible supportive environment etc.
At least people would be taking advantage of their tax free allowance!

Perhaps the key reason why this is the right time for this sort of idea is that the tecnology is really available now. Home-working is becoming more popular but a lot of employers would not want the bother of taking on loads of part-timers. By acting as a group it makes us a more attractive proposition I think.

The above is a little wooly I'll try and organise my thougts a little more on the blog!
mumsnet.com/blogs/lisata/

Thanks again
Lisa