Mandy Oestreich & Mark Lloyd: The Household Membership and Finding Balance as a Family

When we were setting up The Household Membership at the beginning of the year, we were wanting it to be as flexible, human-centred, and community-driven as possible, making it easier for parents, working couples, and carers to embrace a working rhythm that worked around their busy and demanding lives. At the same time, we met Marloe Interior's founders and first-time parents Mark Lloyd and Mandy Oestreich, who were looking for somewhere to work which fitted around looking after their young son. Five months later, Mark and Mandy are the first Household members in our community, and we sat down with them today to see how they were getting on.

Why did you join Lifework?

Mandy: We used to live in Larkhall, just on the outskirts of Bath, and lived in a space with its own home office, which made it very easy for us to run our business at home. We then moved out to Winsley and had our son, and we suddenly found it very difficult to work from home whilst balancing family life. We started to look for alternatives in the area, found Lifework, and it just so happened to be right on our doorstep. We didn’t have co-working in our mind when we moved, but it definitely worked out in our favour!

You’re the first recipients of our Household membership, the membership designed for two people in the same household to split and share one membership. Had you ever come across a co-working structure like this before?

Mark: No, we hadn’t! When we were chatting about how to balance work and family life, we were talking about the different pros and cons to using workspaces, but we kept coming back to the question of “wouldn’t it be great to find a way we can have that flexibility that works both for us but also for our son?” We started to have a look at co-working spaces in the area, loved the Lifework space and the flexibility of the memberships, and after explaining our current schedules with the Lifework team, we were pitched the Household Membership.

Having used the membership for five months now, how are you finding it both as business partners and as a couple? Have you noticed a shift in your life-work balance?

Mark: What I really like about it is I find that if I do a half day here, I am more likely to crunch and be more productive. Because I know I only have four hours rather than eight, I am able to focus and prioritise rather than put things off. But the membership is also forgiving for other life demands, like childcare or appointments or sick days. If we find we can’t come in one day, I know I can just find another four hours at some point in the week and the space will be here for me to focus.

Mandy: Yeah, the flexibility in some ways also makes us more vigilant, because we try to keep weekends as family time, so we are more determined to complete our work during the week. When our son goes to nursery that will be a change in our routine again, but we’re so happy to know that we have Lifework to help stay consistent.

Mark: As for a work-life balance, I’d say we have. We really did try at the beginning to work from home and balance family life, but we couldn’t help but get distracted by all the little things around the house. Now, that separation of the spaces has helped us so much. Whether it’s a few hours at Lifework or doing a session in the gym, we come home and feel like we have more of ourselves to give to each other and our son. It’s easier to separate work and family life because we’re not neglecting either, so there’s no guilt in being present when and where we need to be.

Your son is currently 15 months old and will be attending The Learning Tree Nursery, which is opening on the Hartley Farm site, this September. What’s the hope of him being so close to your workplace?

Mandy: There are a lot of fantastic nurseries in the area, but a lot of them either had huge waiting lists or would require a longer commute, which would take away from the flexibility as a family we were looking for. We had heard there was a nursery coming to the Hartley Farm site and met Jessica, the owner, and we instantly reserved our September spot.

Mark: As for having him on site, It’ll be lovely to just not worry. We know that he is going to be in the best hands with everyone at the Nursery, but to know that we can be there in seconds if needed takes a huge weight off. At his current age, he’s developing core skills which we would love to be a part of, but we also know that he needs that space to grow and at the same time we need the space to focus on work. It’s great knowing that if one of us is in Lifework, we can take a break and pop over and see him, maybe have lunch with him. We love that our membership gives us half day flexibility, because even though we have him booked in for three days a week, if we decide to be spontaneous and spend the afternoon with him, we can, and it doesn’t add any commute time or requires us to sacrifice working hours to be with him.

What do you think the opening of the nursery will mean to the local Winsley community?

Mandy: We’re so excited to see the Hartley Farm site get more footfall and have the opportunity to continue to grow and thrive. We already loved that we could have such a lovely place in walking distance where we could grab a coffee and enjoy the outdoors, but now the site has only gotten more attractive. It’s even just to be surrounded by animals and the vibrancy of farm life, it makes it so unique in the surrounding area that we’re hopeful this is going to be nothing but positive for Winsley.

What is your work-life balance?

Mark: Mine would be to wake up early and go to the gym first thing. It gets me in the right mindset before work and then I’m able to focus on everything else better throughout the day. Then, I would go to work, and I love getting all the high energy tasks out the way, like meetings and client calls, before 12pm because then it doesn’t keep playing on my mind, especially when I want to wind down. At 5pm, I finish for the day and don’t waste the rest of my evening checking emails. I also like to have dinner earlier in the evening, because then that sets up everything else for the rest of the day. If you eat late, it takes longer to wind down, and then you have less sleep, and then you’re just not your best. I’m still working on the sleep aspect, especially with having a young child, but one day I’ll get back there!

Mandy: I’m a little bit different. I prefer a slower morning, sleeping in a little bit longer, then starting work around 10am. I would then deep focus on work until 4:30pm, with breaks to take our dog Holly out for a walk, then switch off and have conscious down time, either individually, as a couple, or as a family. I also like the earlier dinners because when our son is a bit older, we’ll be able to socialise a bit more in the evening. But for now, a quiet evening just as a family is how I’d like to finish my day.

If you could invite any person, dead or alive, to speak to a Lifework Community Day, who would it be and why?

Mark: Elon Musk. He’s just made quantum leaps in his areas of business in such a short span of time. Usually, people with a scientific engineering mind such as his, aren’t always able to transfer that into a business model, but he’s somehow able to do both. I think he’s very unusual in that, so I would be interested to ask him a couple of questions and then just see what his unique perspective would be.

Mandy: I think I would want Martha Stewart. She’s transcended her career past her initial skills and has been able to develop a giant brand with her in the centre, and she’s very smart at taking everything that comes her way and making it profitable. She’s her own reference and she’s done it all, from TV shows, cookery books, social media. I’d love to ask her more about her brand and just see how she’s been able to maintain it throughout multiple generations.

Would you recommend Lifework Communities and the Household Membership?

Mandy: Absolutely. It’s helped us connect with so many people who are in similar times of life with careers and young children. We’re more productive with work, but it’s also helped us make friendships that have gone past the desks and we now hang out outside of lifework. The space itself is beautiful, and our dog Holly also loves coming here, and overall it’s just the perfect place to get away from all the noise and focus on work. We like the space so much that we often end up playfully competing over who gets to use it for the day!

If you have any questions or would like to enquire about signing up for a Household Membership, check out our website for more information!

The Household Membership