As schools around the Metroplex resume in person classes – some delayed, others not – working parents can be caught in the middle of deciding whether to go back to the office or continue to work from home.
However, as part of a number of pandemic pivots, Dallas-based coworking company WorkSuite is rolling out a new option to help keep its entrepreneurs and small business owners in the office while their children either take their classes online or just get a little entertainment.
“We noticed a trend in clients terminating their office with us because they will have to work from home now that school will be virtual from home. Almost all of them didn’t want to give up their office but it didn’t make sense to pay for it if they have to be at home," Tosha Bontrager, senior director of brand and strategy at WorkSuites, told NTX Inno. “Obviously, family comes first, but they also have to provide for the family. Most things can be done remotely from home, but not all. We are hoping that by providing a safe and focused place for the kids to continue with their school work… our small business owners can focus on growing their business without worrying about what to do with the kids for a couple hours.”
WorkSuites’ new offering, called the Zoom Room, is a place where its clients’ kids can go and get their own private desk to participate in online classes and do schoolwork. Others, who aren’t yet beginning classes can snag an iPad to keep entertained while their parents work. The rooms are also hooked up with free wifi and networked printers to help with online schooling and will include a monitor to help keep those doing schoolwork on track. WorkSuites is opening the concept in all of its locations across Texas. Masks will be required in all the common spaces at WorkSuites’ sites.
The move stems from its clients’ needs. Bontrager said come clients had begun to terminate their leases with WorkSuites due to school reopenings and the company was looking for a way to keep them on board.
Many school districts in the region, including Dallas ISD, have pushed back their start date until September 8, while others like Coppell ISD are choosing to open in person classes starting August 17 – parents and students will be able to choose virtual and in person learning until September 8. In late July, following legal guidance from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that local officials can’t “indiscriminately” shut down schools, the Texas Education agency said it would not fund schools that remain closed by health officials.
“Most of our clients are entrepreneurs and small business owners, which are being affected by the pandemic the hardest. We do not want our clients to lose their office or their business because of something they have no control over,” WorkSuites said. "They have all worked very hard to get where they are and build their business so we want to do anything we can to help them get past this.”
The rollout comes amid other pivots WorkSuites, which was founded in 2001, has been making. In June, the company opened its 20th location in Allen – it has 16 across the Metroplex and four in Houston – which features Covid-19 inspired design. It focuses on private offices and features distancing measures in coworking spaces and a virtual office space.
During the pandemic Bontrager said “hybrid” has become a buzzword in the coworking industry. WorkSuites’ hybrid model gives members access to a private office when onsite and access to a virtual office when working from home. The company has also given all of its coworking members access to private offices and has created larger communal areas to help with social distancing.
“People are no longer looking to work in an open area with other people, so they are working from home,” Bontrager said. “People want and need a physical office, but only want to go to the office a couple days a week. We think this trend will be around for a long time now that people are so used to working from home.”
Other local coworking companies have been making changes during the pandemic. Back in March, Dallas-based Common Desk, which has offices locally and in Houston, Austin and North Carolina, launched a WFH membership. In a blog post, Common Desk said that in addition to the benefits of business connections, the WFH membership gives members a human connection, including weekly digital happy hours, which many are looking for during these times of uncertainty and self-isolation.
“There’s no understating it: these times are hard. Many of us are figuring out how to work from home for the very first time,” the Common Desk wrote in a blog post announcing the new membership offering. “Though we are currently distanced from others, we have never needed community more.”
