Child friendly coworking space - would you use it?

[80sLoz]

Hello everyone, based on my own experiences and challenges of being a single, full-time working mum, I'm thinking of starting a child-friendly coworking space. I want it to be more than just desks and Wi-Fi - but a space for connection and community for us parents doing the same juggle. It seems there are very few cowork set ups like this in the UK. I've done a short survey but not sure if I'm allowed to share here... general thoughts most welcome though - is it a good idea? Would you use a space like this? What would make it valuable to you? Thanks so much 🙏

The other problem would be that it would have to be cheaper than just hiring a babysitter (usually a teenager cash in hand) and working from home.

This is what we've done in the past, and usually asked the babysitter to take them to the park so there is silence at home.

But I also think there are some parents who could really use a flexible, affordable in-between space, even just for a couple of hours a week when your little one isn’t in nursery, or after the school run when you might have bits to finish off before the end of the day.

Genuine question - wouldn't most people just put the TV on at home for a couple of hours rather than take their laptop and their child and whatever else to a third party space that they had to pay for?

I’m sorry, your follow up post makes it sound even less viable.

OP, it's good that you have used Mumsnet as a sounding board/research for you idea. And now you can see that it is totally nonviable, before having spent any time or money on it.

I just don’t see how this could possibly work. The noise would be unbearable. You might as well go home where at least you’d only have your own kids to contend with. And work would, quite rightly, never allow that.

More details would be interesting. I get the outcries for "how could that ever work" but as someone who was forced into WFH during lockdown with a two year old, I've become pretty resourceful. We never returned to the office and my children are older now. They understand boundaries when I am working. It's a way of life. My employer is very flexible but I feel that many are not, so I wonder what the need is. My children will be home during half term, I will also be working from home. Somewhere I could drive to and do a half day at, while there was soft play or entertainment whilst I am on site but in a soundproof area could work? But that is a very niche requirement and I can't see it floating a business

Who is looking after the children/ what age? If we’re talking unsupervised children no way personally! Just want to get my work done

My DC now too old to need something like this - but it's something I would have been interested in a decade ago. However, to be effective it would have to include at least one person who is being paid just to contribute to the childcare, and who isn't trying to work on another job too, so it would be more expensive that other co-working spaces. Trying to WFH whilse simultaneously looking after your children is taking the piss, and I couldn't think of anything worse than a load of people trying to take the piss like that simultaneously. However, something that is a half-way point between a nursery and childcare at home might work. I would envision it as the childcare taking place in the middle of the room, with a childcare professional facilitating play and learning activities, and the WHF parents in booths around the edge of the room mainly focusing on their work, but able to take a 5 minute break if their child falls over or gets upset, and presumably cheaper than a nursery-plus-traditional-co-work-space-added-together would be, because there wouldn't need to be such a high staff to children ratio if the parents are actually in the room.

Precisely. If you are having to juggle work and childcare, it ia generally easier to do at home- where you have child-proofed appropriately to the needs of your specific children and their age range. Everything you need is on hand at home.

The only time I got work done outside home (or workplace) was when the children are occupied at some organised thing (like dance or sport) and i snatched an hour while waiting around. Otherwise I would be having to jump up every few minutes to attend to one or other child.

So how would insurance, fire regulations, checks for being suitable to be around children, how workers A children be safe from worker B with safety concerns, noise & and children annoying their parents and other workers

Privacy for the companies and data security, so how could it be staffed and paid for? how much entertainment for the children?

toilets, nappy changing, food?

just things I think when I think about this idea

No - if I need to work, I can’t have my DC with me, other than at home (she’s 12 so has her room and activities available)
I tried to set up my own business with mr DC during lockdown- flipping difficult to work with kids around, there’s a reason they should be in school or childcare when you need to work

sorry the bit about Worker A & B was about the children if Worker A was there with their children would Worker B be kept away from the children, for example

because of child safety reasons I mean

This, unless the children are supervised in a separate area, this is a ridiculous idea. I also wonder how good it is for the children as well as they should be properly stimulated and monitored

Who would be minding the kids? I don't understand. Will there be paid childcare there, so that parents can work, or is it more of a community centre, where you go to hang out with other families, in which case, who minds the kids while the parents work? Or do you take it in turns to work and look after the kids?

I assume everyone working in the space would need to be fully DBS checked, which would be expensive and a pain in the ass.

I can’t see the benefit. Presumably parents who do work whilst they have their children just do it from home. Why would they pay for an office space? Children are more likely to behave/be comfortable in their own space. Rather than pay for office space they can just use childcare. Plus theres issues around confidentiality, noise and behaviour.

This sounds like a health and safety, employment law, HR, insurance nightmare. I have 20 employees and I would wholly disapprove of my staff using this. You can’t do both- looking after young children and working from
home. Add other children in to the mix and the distraction is ten fold.

it’s like one of my employees deciding to work for me from a soft play centre!

It's also impossible to know if one would use your space, without knowing roughly the cost per hour. How much would it be? It's all very well getting soundings on whether people like the idea of it, but when you tell them it's £20 per hour (which I suspect it would be, roughly), you'll get a different answer.

I imagine this will only appeal to a niche of people that:
Have children in the right age range
Ate self-employed or have an incredibly flexible employer
Have work where background noise is not an issue
Have work that can be interupted frequently
Want to combine work and children (ie do not want a separation for whatever readon)
Can afford to pay for it
Would find it worth paying for vs staying at home

Even if you found customers who wanted a community in a hired space, whose employers allow them to have kids around them while they're meant to be working, how much profit would you make?
If paying for all the overheads PPs have listed you would need a lot of customers, paying a lot.

I'm not your target audience either, being child-free and self-employed. I could, I suppose, for remote working decide to work in an office space but no chance would I sign up for one with kids in some kind of attached creche.

Suspect you'd have more luck with a DOG friendly co-working space. I'd be well up for that.

I doubt you'd make a profit after purchasing the Insurance. Our local play and stay closed down due to the high insurance cost. It automatically becomes higher when you mention children.

From the foggy blur of my childraising memories, I just recalled there was a place in Wandsworth called Third Door that was a co-working space with a nursery incorporated. I never used it and not sure if it's still in business, but you could have a look into that to see what their model was. Expect for it to work at all you'd have to be somewhere like that for density of monied working parents.

And my other thought is, that if there was profit to be had in this - and even if there wasn't - then We Work would've done it before it tanked.

I'm trying to imagine what this would even look like. I see a soft play centre on Saturday afternoon but instead of the usual cafe set-up of tables and chairs there would be computers and printers? Dystopian nightmare. I would never use this facility.

Anyone looking for a child friendly place to use a computer for half an hour could do this at most libraries. There is usually an area for kids to sit and read or do quiet activities like a puzzle while the adult can use the IT facilities.