WorkClub is a London startup with UK-wide ambitions. On day 1 of the lockdown, we took action to adjust our model and mission to supporting those hit by the crisis. 

Over the past two years, WorkClub has built close relationships with many hospitality based businesses. It is up to us to dedicate our time and resources to supporting them now and during their come back. While closed, we are supporting our partners with GiveLocally, a non-profit platform for local communities to buy gift cards and claim other special offers from their favorite local pubs, restaurants, and cafes. By getting cash into these venues hands, we help them stay in business. Patrons get to help their favorite venues stay alive and reward themselves with great food & drink once restrictions are relaxed. This project went live within 10 days of ideation and has become a successful in its own right, supporting hundreds of UK venues, while also fitting into WorkClub's own growth strategy. 

Since GiveLocally is now live, I have shifted my focus to helping the hospitality sector relaunch. This is a huge challenge, but we believe the solution is local coworking spaces. Our venue partners have all the facilities needed to operate as a drop-in coworking space. Coworking spaces are local economic engines in their own right for our partners.

When the lockdown eases off, the hospitality sector will be the last on the list to reopen. Therefore, we need to give government a defining reason to allow them to open, to operate under strict social distancing guidelines. 

Community strength will be essential in helping people re-connect, build new networks, and support each other. People will not want to be jumping back into their commute, going to work from large cooperate offices. Our favourite local pubs, restaurants and cafes can once again become community hubs operating as a coworking spaces, becoming a key ingredient in rebounding from the crisis.