Alternative child care on the rise

A co-working space with a dedicated on-site crèche, BubDesk offers a functional answer to the at-times romantic ‘working from home’ conundrum. Located two kilometres out of Perth’s city centre, BubDesk offers working parents desks, boardrooms and a relaxed workshop environment complete with armchairs, ottomans and beanbags. The crèche is run by an ex-childcare manager and follows the same early-learning framework as many day cares, but at a fraction of the price (all-day fees start from just $40). A new branch is set to open in the city centre in the coming months. BubDesk isn’t the only co-working space of its kind. Around the country, offices with crèche facilities are popping up in most capital cities to meet the growing demands of professional parents. Melbourne’s Happy HubBub offers a similar model, but with the addition of a fully-fledged childcare license, meaning parents can leave the site to attend meetings and run errands. In Sydney’s inner west, Bubs and Boardrooms was one of the first of its kind and is soon re-opening in the CBD, while also planning to expand north to Brisbane.

The kids' corner of the office at Bubdesk. Source: (Tash Drummond-Hay)