Co-working moms: when women can have it all

Women can’t have it all. This is the title of the essay published by the Independent a few weeks ago, which once again raised the debate on work family balance and on whether it will ever be possible for a woman to have a career without having to sacrifice her family. The long hours and the lack of flexibility often make the office a difficult place for working mothers, but things are changing.

A brand new co-working space, designed for working moms will open in Milan next November. It is called Piano C, which means “C Plan”, “because working mothers who joggle all day with professional and private tasks, need much more than just one backup plan”, says Piano C co-founder Riccarda Zezza, who knows very well what she’s talking about. She left her job as head of stakeholder engagement at the Italian bank Banca Prossima to start this new adventure, because after having her second child, she realized that working mothers need to set new rules. This is why she created Piano C, a coworking environment where the key word is “flexibility”. “The way the working world is structured is anachronistic.” She says, “ It is still based on old schemes and it doesn’t consider the existence of new technologies, with the result that it often cuts out people with different needs. In Italy 1 woman out of 3 stays at home after she has had a baby, because she doesn’t fit in her work environment anymore.”

Piano C wants to become a working place where women can feel like they belong. Besides coworking space,  Spazio C will also have a meeting room, a kindergarten and it will offer different services, such as coaching and training sessions and a sort of “Taskrabbit” service, which will allow the working moms to have someone else run their errands. “Having someone running errands in your place is every working mother’s dream.” Says  Zezza, “With just a small fee our members will be able to have someone fix their bike or pick up their grocery at the supermarket”. The project has one ambitious goal, “We want to figure out if working in a happy environment affects people’s productivity. I believe it does…I call it productive happiness.”