WeWork Plans Additional Workforce Reductions

WeWork plans to make additional reductions to its workforce, even with the recent removal of jobs, Bloomberg reported.

CEO Sandeep Mathrani said at a meeting that the co-working company would make more decreases in its headcount by the end of May, and, while he didn’t quantify the size of the reductions, he said he hoped it would be the final wave.

Mathrani said that “restructuring is inevitable” for the firm to have success in the future. WeWork decreased the size of its workforce by 2,400 staffers following an unsuccessful try to go public in 2019. Additionally, it removed 250 positions in the past month, and some of its competitors, including Industrious and Knotel Inc., did as well.

The firm has also faced the same impacts of the coronavirus pandemic as other companies have. It is mulling new designs for select spaces to keep distance between employees following the pandemic. Those plans reportedly encompass limits to the number of people in common areas, one-way trails in the workspace and additional space from desk to desk.

Management cautioned that the firm has to keep control over its expenses. WeWork Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Ross said per the report, “Let me be very clear: With or without COVID, we need to run a more disciplined business.”

“Do not wait to be asked to cut expenses,” she added, according to Bloomberg. “Be proactive. If you see waste, eliminate it. If you see unnecessary spending, stop it.”

Earlier this month, WeWork filed a lawsuit against investor SoftBank for backing out of a deal to buy $3 billion in shares of the company.

“Instead of abiding by its contractual obligations, SoftBank, under increasing pressure from activist investors, has engaged in a purposeful campaign to avoid completion of the tender offer,” WeWork said in a statement at the time.