HOW TO KILL YOUR CUBICLE
Wework
The Wework approach to office design—combining stylish-yetutilitarian shared work spaces with lively, collaborative social scenes—has become synonymous with startup culture. But big businesses also want in on what chief product officer David Fano calls the “Wework vibe”—not to mention its cost and space efficiencies.
In April, Fano announced a new initiative for the company: Wework On-site will provide businesses that have more than 1,000 employees and 50,000 square feet with interior design services and office-management support (such as conference-room booking and event planning). They’ll also have access to a “community manager,” who can connect employees with Wework’s broader network of camaraderie-building programs, such as its annual adult summer camp. The ultimate goal, though, is to teach companies how to use space more efficiently—in other words, how to cowork. Earlier this year, Wework deployed its office-usage analytics to help a Chicago company go from three floors to two by creating communal spaces, as well as moving some employees onto flexible schedules and placing others at a Wework outpost. (Wework already houses portions of employees from more than 1,000 larger companies.)
This focus on on-site services comes at an inflection point for Wework, as it figures out the best way to stimulate growth beyond its traditional (and expensive) real estate model. “There’s a physical capacity to how fast that can go,” Fano says. “If we help [larger businesses] energize what they have and live their culture to the fullest, that really accelerates the impact we have.” —CD MILESTONES IBM has reportedly become the first company to sign on for an entire Wework location, 88 University Place in New York. CHALLENGES Wework will have to rely more on these on-site services as it enters small, less dense cities. BUZZ