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THE 100 BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR
WeWork
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THE FUTURE OF WORK OFFICE SPACE 2.0
Commercial real estate startup WeWork brings the sharing economy into your workspace.
By Jen Wieczner
U
SING AN OFFICE at WeWork feels a lot like checking in at a swank hotel. Indie music plays softly in the reception area. Young professionals with laptops sprawl across couches, beanbag chairs, and even pillowcovered stacks of wooden pallets, sipping artisanal coffee or lemon water. Depending on the day, help yourself to a waffle brunch or sign up for a massage in a conference room.
Despite the relaxing vibe, WeWork’s chain of co-working spaces— where employees from different firms rent desks and small offices but share Wi-Fi, copy machines, water coolers, and the like—are all about doing business. Founded by two guys who never had traditional office jobs of their own, WeWork was imagined as a sort of entrepreneurial, antiestablishment utopia: delivering Googleplex-type perks (from videogames to health insurance discounts) to small startups that couldn’t otherwise afford them. “The line that we see between work and play is really blurring, and we try to make this the best work environment possible,” says WeWork co-founder and CEO Adam Neumann. The WeWork model has proved incredibly attractive to today’s increasingly independent workforce. Started in 2010, WeWork has grown into a $5 billion business with 27 locations across the U.S. and abroad. It plans to double that number by the end of this year.
And lately Fortune 500 companies have also come knocking: Merck, American Express, and Microsoft now lease desks at WeWork. Yet WeWork turns many big firms away; it limits them to just 20% of overall membership. “If we had opened our doors, this place would become corporate America,” Neumann says. “We’re able to give them a corporate culture and feeling that are a little more relevant.” Merck employees , for example, alternate between company headquarters and four WeWork outposts in New York City to gain exposure to the “innovation ecosystem.”
WeWork is the first U.S. company to scale the coworking concept and to galvanize its own brand of workspace, which is as much about the social scene as it is about the space itself. There are onsite happy hours and events several times a week, publicized by WeWork’s members-only mobile app, and floors are laid out so that workers are likely to bump into one another on their way to the fridge or a meeting.
While companies of all sizes are shifting to openoffice layouts to cut costs, WeWork’s memberships, averaging $400 to $650 a person per month, can be more expensive than leasing a comparable amount of commercial space elsewhere. WeWork says it makes up for that by covering expenses like furniture and cleaning— not to mention the beer kegs on every floor—as well as by fostering business relationships and partnerships between members. “For us, it’s not about reducing footprint,” says Mark Gallagher, senior market manager for Silicon Valley Bank, which recently took up residence in WeWork’s Boston and San Francisco locations to better mingle with its entrepreneur clients. “It’s about a different work style.”
SECRETS FROM A RECRUITER
—KRISTY SEIDEL, DIRECTOR OF TALENT ACQUISITION, HYATT HOTELS [NO. 78]
BREAK TIME Many of WeWork’s offices offer creative distractions.
10 Best Companies for Women
THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRY IS DOMINATING THE MARKET FOR FEMALE TALENT BY OFFERING FLEXIBLE WORK OPTIONS AND PROMOTING MANY INTO LEADERSHIP ROLES. By Colleen Leahey
IT HAS BECOMETRENDY for companies to boast publicly about their efforts to provide more femalefriendly perks. Increased maternity leave (both paid and unpaid), telecommuting, job sharing—the list goes on. And just last year Apple and Facebook began offering financial aid to female employees undergoing cryo-vitrification. The underlying goal? To attract and retain the best female talent in a highly competitive industry.
As many types of companies try to increase workforce diversity, the industries that traditionally attract more women workers (such as health care) continue to thrive. Thanks to a mix of great benefits, stable career paths, and supportive cultures, women make up 45% or more of the leadership positions at these 10 companies.
EMPLOYEE CARE Registered nurses at Meridian Health receive average pay of $83,481 a year.
1. MERIDIAN HEALTH
Women account for a whopping 80% of the health system’s workforce and fill 63% of leadership positions. “I feel very lucky to have a company that encourages women to work while having a family by providing affordable onsite child care,” says one employee.
2. CHILDREN’S HEALTHCARE OF ATLANTA
The pediatric hospital offers $10,000 for adoption benefits, bountiful paid time off for new parents, telecommuting, job sharing, and flexible scheduling. “Children’s is geared toward family first, so there is never a hassle if you need time off,” says an employee.
3. PERKINS COIE
Women occupy 68% of the law firm’s leadership positions. “I really appreciate the work-from-home option. In the past couple of years the company has made the work-remotely option a much easier way to work,” says one female employee. “I am fortunate the company encourages this.”
4. ALSTON & BIRD
Workers adore this global law firm, which, an employee says, “is wonderful about supporting new mothers and their needs once they return to work.” Another says, “The firm has helped me with elder care, child care, and adoption benefits. Because of this I give 200% at work.”
5. NOVO NORDISK
After one year of service, the pharma company offers an additional 12 weeks of bonding leave after short-term disability ends, including one week paid. “Management stresses to us to take vacations and not work on weekends. It’s is one of the reasons I love working here,” says a worker.
