- When women's coworking startup The Wing opened a new Williamsburg location in Brooklyn on February 14 that promised on-site childcare through its subsidiary, Little Wing.
- The model was to be based on the childcare program at The Wing's SoHo location, which allows members to book childcare in advance during set hours throughout the week.
- When one Williamsburg member reached out to Astrid Aune, the manager of Little Wing, to book dates, however, she was told the coworking startup had instead partnered with The SitterClub, a Brooklyn-based startup that matches caregivers with sitters.
- The Wing members wouldn't have to pay The SitterClub's $100 membership fee, but would be on the hook to find, schedule, vet, and pay sitters booked through the service. At a community meeting on Monday, members raised concerns about the lack of support and communication from The Wing about the changes.
- A Wing spokeswoman declined to comment for this article.
- Click here for more BI Prime stories.
Monday's meeting at the Brooklyn location of The Wing - a women-focused coworking startup - looked fittingly idyllic with babies crawling around the conference room as The Wing's Astrid Aure spoke to parents.
But the crawling babies were not a sign of success for The Wing's new in-house childcare service, but rather a picture of the disorder it had caused. A small group of working moms who had eagerly committed to the coworking space's childcare service had learned on the eve of its launch that The Wing decided the idea wasn't feasible and was instead connecting parents with an online babysitting service.
Now, a couple of weeks after the controversial move, Aure was trying to assuage the concerns and recriminations of the women, many of whom were forced to bring their children to the meeting because they had no other childcare options.
"It just felt like, you don't know what you're doing and you don't know how to support mothers," one Williamsburg Wing member told Business Insider. She was granted anonymity for fear of reprisal from The Wing and its extensive professional network in New York City.
The Wing has positioned itself snugly within modern feminist circles as a progressive community center and comfortable workspace, and has raked in nearly $118 million in venture funding. When the company announced that it was going to start offering childcare services under its subsidiary Little Wing, working moms were thrilled. It seemed like one of the biggest hurdles to starting a business or working in a demanding field was finally going to be addressed by a startup that relied heavily on its "by women, for women," mission.
As the botched attempt to offer a childcare service in Brooklyn shows however, even the most well-meaning startups are not immune from the overconfidence and willful delusion that have humbled fast-growing companies from WeWork to Uber. For The Wing, a lack of foresight and due diligence seems to have led it to misjudge the realities and regulations of running a childcare service, ultimately leaving the very people it sought to help - working moms - in the lurch.
'We don't need more recommendations'
The Wing began offering childcare through Little Wing in its SoHo, New York, location in late 2018 and added the service to its West Hollywood, Calif., location shortly after. The SoHo location adhered to New York's strict regulations, such as not allowing childcare providers to change diapers, and members were initially told the Williamsburg location would use the same childcare model but were not told the restrictions around diaper-changing and infants. The West Hollywood location is subject to different regulations set by the state of California, and does allow infants.
Williamsburg members were told that childcare would be provided on-site in a dedicated room from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, care would be available from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., and members were encouraged to book in advance. This was the same as the program in SoHo, members said.
"I sat my family down and was like 'We have to change our family's schedule so I can go these three days,'" the member said. "I was about to have 8 hours of working time. We had meetings planned, office hours posted, in addition to adjusting our families' schedules."
But on February 13, just one day before the Williamsburg Little Wing's official opening, the member heard from Aure, the manager of Little Wing for all of The Wing offices. Aure told the member that The Wing would not be providing childcare on-site. Instead, members would be able to use a new, on-demand service called The SitterClub, to book a babysitter that worked for her schedule and budget.
There was little explanation about the reason for the change, and it's still not entirely clear why The Wing decided to scrap the in-house childcare service in Brooklyn at the last moment. It is also unclear why the in-house model continues to work in both SoHo and West Hollywood.
A spokeswoman for The Wing declined to comment for this article. When asked to confirm details of the changes to the Little Wing in Williamsburg, the spokeswoman said, "This deadline was not possible for us to accomplish in 8 hours. We have many stories and projects were working on."
For Wing members who were expecting an on-site and consistent childcare option they could rely on every day, the SitterClub app was a significantly different proposition, and the timing of the change didn't leave much room to adapt.
The SitterClub app matches babysitters and caregivers but does not set payment rates or manage sitters' schedules. And while The Wing's partnership waived SitterClub's $100 monthly membership fee for all New York Wing members, users of the service still had to pay a $25 booking fee in addition to the sitters' rate each time they booked.
"It's up to me to do all that coordinating with the babysitter," the member said. "Every week, the woman that runs the [parenting Facebook] group asks us to post nanny and babysitting recommendations. We don't need more recommendations."
The SitterClub can accommodate same-day bookings, but cofounders Nic Gordon and Sydney Spellacy told Business Insider that ideally, families would allow additional time to meet the sitter and help them ample time to schedule, especially if they are hesitant leaving their child with someone they haven't met before.
"We would like them to come to us 48 hours in advance, but most come to us with last-minute needs and we help them book directly," Gordon said. "We are responsible for finding them a proper match. Sometimes families are nervous and aren't comfortable leaving their child with a stranger, but if you give yourself enough time before the sit you can FaceTime the sitter or even meet in person."
'That was a f--- up'
The childcare snafu comes on the heels of another persistent headwind for The Wing. The company has repeatedly been accused of having a culture, either intentionally or not, that was hostile to women of color both in its corporate offices and in its membership.
Wing cofounder Audrey Gelman acknowledged some shortcomings in a Fast Company op-ed on Wednesday, noting that the company had thus far operated "without the consistent self-interrogation of our own blind spots as white cis women," and had prioritized growth over the concerns of its members and employees.
That contrition was also on display at the meeting on Monday with the women looking for answers about the scrapped childcare plan.
Little Wing's Aure told the women that SitterClub could better provide care for their children since it would be one-on-one, instead of the larger community care services that The Wing had originally planned.
The moms also wouldn't have to change their baby's diapers as they would have had to do if The Wing were operating an in-house childcare service under New York regulations, Aure explained.
But the "corporate lingo" of Monday's discussion didn't sit well with the Williamsburg mothers, who are still pushing for The Wing to fulfill the promise of true on-site childcare. A group of about a dozen Williamsburg women have created Facebook posts, text groups, and email chains to document the changes and explanations in real time since The Wing has yet to issue a mass email explaining the changes to its new members. Some aren't sure if they trust the startup to handle matters better in the future, but were cautious to give up on the promise of balancing work and family.
"They used the phrase 'that was a f--- up'," the member said. "So as far as using words to own up to the mistake, they are doing that. But I don't know what's happening. It doesn't seem like anything will change."
