Once beleaguered WeWork, which had revolutionized the pre-pandemic workplace by mainstreaming co-working, is now publicly traded, according to CNBC.
In public comments WeWork CEO echoed the findings of many CoreNet Global recent surveys:
“One size fits all is dead. The corporate headquarters as we knew it, 9-5, five days a week, corporate HQ, I don’t think we’re ever going back to that,” Marcelo Claure, the executive chairman of WeWork, said at last week’s CNBC @Work Summit. “We’ve all learned that we’re capable of doing a lot of work from home. However, at the same time, we’ve all learned that we got to go back to the office to perform some tasks.”
Our surveys also showed the during the pandemic, companies largely viewed co-working exactly the same as they had prior to the pandemic.
“The world has changed forever, and flexibility is the name of the game,” Claure said. “Companies are going to take many different stances; some are going to take work from home and because they’ve learned that they can run their business as efficient working from home. Some are going to push employees to go back to the office and most companies are going to have a hybrid approach, which is to give employees the flexibility to work a few days from home and come to the office when they need to go to the office.”
The pandemic may have benefited WeWork, according to the article: It “allowed WeWork to take advantage of the shift in the world with clients not wanting long-term leases.”