Executive Briefing
Coworking with childcare sounds like a dream
Work culture is due for a reinvention. What role can clubs like LA’s new BümoWork play?
By Dan Frommer on Tuesday, July 6, 2021 at 8:00 am
Contributor Jenni Avins writes:
Hello again! Remember BBC dad? In a red necktie and suit jacket, the professor became a meme in 2017 when his young daughter toddled onscreen in the middle of an interview about South Korean politics. How quaint, four years later, to remember a time when a kid crashing the workday was worthy of headlines.
Covid has since sent the supposed separation between our personal and professional lives up in flames. Those lucky enough to hang on to work they could do from home did so, many surrounded by family members, often to the brink of burnout. When schools and daycares shut and sent children home, many parents — especially women — found working to be untenable.
Ten million mothers with school-age children were not working at the beginning of this year, according to the US Census Bureau — about one in three, and a 1.4 million increase compared to January of 2020. According to one McKinsey survey, 23% of mothers of children under 10 years were considering leaving the workforce in 2020.
Well before 2020, one might have characterized the state of US childcare as a crisis that leaves working mothers with few affordable options. The pandemic laid bare just how essential childcare is to an inclusive, healthy economy — and home.
Now, as bosses, workers, policymakers, and economists are reimagining what work might look like in the post-pandemic era, it’s painfully clear that affordable childcare must be a part of the picture.
The New Consumer Executive Briefing is exclusive to members — join now to unlock this 1,800-word post and the entire archive. Subscribers should sign in here to continue reading.
Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.
I’m a longtime tech and business journalist, and I’m excited to focus my attention on how technology continues to profoundly change how things are created, experienced, bought, and sold. The New Consumer is supported entirely by your membership — join now to receive my reporting, analysis, and commentary directly in your inbox, via my twice-weekly, member-exclusive newsletter. Thanks in advance.