A shared desk isn’t ‘community’

I spent six months with a $350-a-month hot desk membership at WeWork, and it felt nothing like the “community” the company peddles, said Katie Way. With my membership, “I got 24/7 building access, ‘guaranteed deskspace’ in the building’s common areas, Wi-Fi, printer access, free coffee and beer on tap.” I also met a lot of dogs, drank a lot of fancy coffee, and “spent a lot of time psychically willing the phone booths to be empty when I needed to dial in to my weekly check-in with the real office in Berkeley, Calif.” Mostly, though, it felt like I was just simulating “someone who has a normal job.”

I commuted to and from the office, waited for coworkers to be done at the coffee machine, but also “felt guilty for coughing too loudly” while working at a long table with fellow gig employees “in nearcomplete silence.” Being at a WeWork probably made me more productive than being in my apartment, but I could have gotten that for free at a local library. While WeWork brags about “community, culture, and energy,” the reality is that co-working can be bleak. Occupying a space with fellow remote workers strangely underscored “how badly I wanted to be around other people again.”