{"id":3000021285,"date":"2020-10-07T11:55:37","date_gmt":"2020-10-07T15:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?p=3000021285"},"modified":"2020-10-07T15:11:50","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T19:11:50","slug":"how-a-surrogacy-service-brings-teams-back-to-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/how-a-surrogacy-service-brings-teams-back-to-the-workplace","title":{"rendered":"How a surrogacy service brings teams back to the workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2020 has been an unprecedented year for businesses<\/a> everywhere, but veteran-owned surrogacy, in-vitro fertilization, and egg donation agency Patriot Conceptions<\/a> has managed to bring on six new hires despite dealing with some unique challenges. Before the pandemic, founder Haotian Bai and his team of eight served a customer base that was primarily located overseas. But with ongoing travel bans, they\u2019ve had to refocus their strategy on domestic families first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen COVID-19 hit, we were just as worried as everyone else, but we ramped up business development, informational technology, and marketing, and we were able to keep up and continue to profit despite the travel restrictions,\u201d says Bai. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Bai was serving as a chemical engineering specialist in the U.S. Army, he saw just how difficult it was for service members struggling with infertility to gain access to surrogacy services. This painful experience is exacerbated because soldiers are already mentally stressed, he said. The experience led him to start Patriot Conceptions. Now the business helps infertile couples, gay couples, and single parents with in-vitro fertilization and other surrogacy services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bai is excited to have the team\u201414 employees and growing\u2014back in the office at WeWork Park Tower<\/a> in Costa Mesa, California. The team is currently going to the office in rotations to accommodate social distancing measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If today we have IT together, tomorrow it’ll be the marketing crew, then the day after, the internal services department,” Bai says. This model ensures there is ample space for every employee (now seated at every other table instead of shoulder-to-shoulder) while ensuring that the most relevant coworkers get time to make progress face-to-face\u2014or at least in the same room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith our new hires and the need for social distancing<\/a>, we\u2019ve upgraded to an 11-seater space,\u201d with not all employees coming into the office at the same time, Bai says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a positive transition for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n