We return with even more Monday motivation with a new Coworking + Childcare interview, this time from a community in Vancouver.
This week we share a conversation with the Nestworks team in Vancouver about what they’re doing to help tackle local childcare challenges in their community.
Can you tell us a little about your coworking space, your town/city and its population and who your space is perfect for?
Nestworks is a concept in development in Vancouver, BC, Canada that integrates coworking and childcare. It’s designed for parents who require coworking space—for example, distance workers, consultants or entrepreneurs—that is closer to home than downtown Vancouver. It’s also designed for their kids, with services ranging from infant care through to after-school programming and features including dedicated nursing lounges and stroller parking.
What made you decide to look into merging coworking and family needs?
What have been your biggest wins/successes so far?
In early 2020, we held our first pop-up coworking event with childcare services provided by PIRS’s Pop-Up Child Care, a local not-for-profit that trains new Canadian women to be Early Childhood Educators. We met and heard directly from parents about what their work-life challenges were and why Nestworks would be so beneficial to them.
Any challenges you're struggling to overcome? And if so, how can folks help you and your community with this initiative?
What insights do you have for other coworking spaces based on what you have learned so far?
We would love other coworking spaces and employers to realize how much childcare contributes to a thriving economy.
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Providing childcare or other activities for children as an extension of coworking would not only solve problems for working parents, but also be a model for how life and work can be integrated more cohesively, benefiting the health and wellness of our society in the long term.
A massive thanks to the Nestworks team for taking the time to share these answers and for all you do to tackle childcare challenges in your local community.