Quincy Worx hopes to be option for workers forced out of office by COVID

QUINCY — People accustomed to driving to work and doing their job alongside other employees had to work from home when the COVID pandemic started in March 2020. Many businesses shut their doors and told employees to set up shop at the kitchen table or living room couch. Eighteen months later, some people still work remotely.

Quincy Worx might be an option for those transplanted workers.

Craig Moncey, a financial planner at IPI Wealth Management in Quincy, recently bought the former Shaw Clinic building, 3701 E. Lake Center. He has moved his business and six employees there. He also has 5,500 square feet in the building renamed Quincy Worx that other people and businesses can rent.

“We can be a place for people who have been displaced from their office because of COVID,” he said. “Now they’re working from their house by themselves. When they had a team around them, that other community around them, that’s all gone. This office space will allow them to choose how they want to work.”

Quincy Worx offers a business cafe for people who need only WiFi service and a cup of coffee. It also has two conference rooms that can accommodate up to 10 people, as well as an office space where educational workshops or lunch-and-learn meetings can be held.

“There are a lot of home-based businesses looking for space,” Moncey said.

Quincy Worx will offer different levels of membership, though Moncey has not yet established the pricing structure. A day pass will be available for a “couple of bucks.” He also plans to offer monthly rates. Users will earn credits to use the facility’s conference rooms. Tenants won’t be asked to sign a lease.

“There are several financial advisors who come from St. Louis, Des Moines, Iowa, and Springfield, Ill., to visit their clients, and they need a space to visit,” Moncey said. “One local company isn’t letting their sales reps meet with people inside their facility. They have to go find somewhere else. A place like this would allow them to come here.

“We can provide a place for the sales reps to meet all the contractors or the hospitals or the physicians or whoever. They can go to different meetings. It can be a one-stop shop. And as your business grows and your office grows, I don’t have to change the office.”

Moncey says facilities like the one he’s creating aren’t new.

“This idea has been around a decade or more in other cities,” he said. “The bigger cities have millions of people. It’s not too hard to fill up space of a couple hundred people.”

Two businesses — Innovative Tax Solutions and Ellerman Consulting — have moved into the building. At least 200 people already have contacted Moncey to learn more about Quincy Worx. Contact Moncey at info@quincyworx.com for more information.