Many time-crunched employees will argue that bringing your child to work is one to save time, as well as see their kids more. In between commuting, getting groceries, and cooking dinner, bringing your children to work with you is one way to cut down on the juggle of daily life. In recent years, many (mostly larger) companies and corporations have begun offering on-site childcare as an extra perk for their employees. They’ve also started to allow their employees to have a work from home day to help harried parents.

Is this how coworking spaces work? Can you bring your kids to your coworking office? At this time, most coworking spaces do not offer childcare. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future.  Coworking spaces are growing in popularity, and it’s not hard to imagine that as they grow, so will the amenities they offer.

Adding kids to the mix means raising the rent

When you add childcare into a work environment, it takes more than just throwing some Legos into a room with a Thomas the Train rug. In fact, with the addition of childcare come new financial challenges, not to mention operational. If an office were to offer childcare, they would need to adhere to a new set of local regulations and licensing, as well as being up to date on child health and safety. Childcare will also require qualified staff to watch the little ones, as well as paying the staff. 

These added costs will inevitably raise the rent for those of us who work in a coworking space. And for those of us who don’t have kids – or don’t need to bring them into the office, it doesn’t seem fair to pay for something we don’t need or use. 

Coworking still has some kinks

Coworking is relatively new, and regarding marketing, it still needs some fine-tuning. If potential renters see that a coworking space has onsite childcare, that could be a turn-off for those of us who want a quiet place to work. Some people are confident that kids will create a cacophony of chaos. Of course, that’s not really true, but it’s easy to see how they reach that conclusion. Kids can be rambunctious, and that they have a ton of energy. But just because there are kids around, doesn’t mean you won’t have the quiet office you need to work.

Coworking office spaces are growing and becoming more popular, but they still have some kinks to work out. Will the majority of coworking spaces start offering childcare? That remains to be seen, but it is a possibility. Especially because so many of us work from home to be closer to our kids and family.