WeWork bankruptcy: lessons for the future of work and health
WeWork’s high-profile struggle has ended in bankruptcy. What went wrong for the company that pioneered co-working space and what does this tell us about the future of work and health? While the focus on growth over profitability and loss of investor confidence around a failed IPO may have shaped WeWork’s trajectory, there are lessons to be learned on the future of remote working more generally, including the feasibility of shared flexible workspace solutions for businesses.
WeWork represented a paradigm shift on ‘where to work’. The early mission was all about community: allowing people from different organisations to work under one roof, providing opportunity to build social capital as well as a professional network regardless of whether you were self employed or a remote employee for a company based in a different time zone. We know that good workplace relationships and support have a positive impact on mental health at work, and that these factors can be compromised in remote working. What is fascinating about what WeWork pioneered is the concept of leveraging human capital from different organisations as a solution to this, via shared working environments.
The phrase from the mission statement ‘make a life, not just a living’ is interesting because it pivots the salience of having more than just a job that pays the bills from WHAT you do, to HOW you work.
Does it work practically?
There may be issues with cost structure for co-working spaces that take on long term leases for office space while offering short term leases to their customers which comes with financial risk. Some analysts have also suggested the fundamental unit economics of serviced co-working spaces in cities where the cost per square foot of real estate is high is difficult to make profitable. These limitations relate primarily to co-working spaces as businesses and the challenge of creating a workplace community across organisations. Companies that run their own premises have more direct control over supply and demand.
How we work is changing
Autonomy and flexibility around where to work have become more significant as working conditions since the covid-19 pandemic. But for Gen Z, who will make up almost 30% of the global workforce by 2025, work-life balance, remote working and flexible leave are the top priorities when looking for a job. The narrative around what makes work meaningful enough to commit to is shifting. Working conditions, which are fundamental to occupational health and in particular mental health at work, may emerge as an ever higher priority. This connects to WeWork’s concept of importance of work environment and community in work and life- regardless of the job you are actually doing.
On the one hand the markets will shape the landscape when it comes to work- both in terms of what we do and how we do it. On the other, how we work is evolving and whole new dimensions of working conditions are being created, from where to work to working with AI to using augmented reality at work, all of which will impact health at work.
The future of work will be a balancing act: clearly individuals and business will need to meet their financial obligations. However, for individuals, there may be compromise on financial compensation in favour of broader options and more control over how and where the work is done.