WEBVTT - More Businesses Support Hybrid Work (Podcast)

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, safe

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<v Speaker 1>to say one of the most talked about topics as

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<v Speaker 1>we move beyond the pandemic is how we work hybrid

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<v Speaker 1>working from home business travelers. So many questions about how

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<v Speaker 1>things look post pandemic, how much of what we had

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<v Speaker 1>to do during the pandemic, and how much really stays

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<v Speaker 1>with us. Looking into that we work, which is out

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<v Speaker 1>with a new blind survey of US employees and sea

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<v Speaker 1>level execs. Here with what they found. Sham get them all.

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<v Speaker 1>He is president and chief operating officer we work, and

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<v Speaker 1>Sean joins us on the phone in San Francisco. So,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm nice to have you here on Bloomberg. How are you.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm doing great. Thank you so much Carol for having

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<v Speaker 1>me join you. Well, it's great to have you here

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<v Speaker 1>and listen. You guys have a great window into truly

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<v Speaker 1>how we're all working and how we expect to work.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell us about this survey, who you talked to and

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<v Speaker 1>what you found out. Sure, we ask a market research

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<v Speaker 1>company to reach out to a thousand C suite executives

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<v Speaker 1>as well as a thous and not C suite executives

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<v Speaker 1>and talk to them about what the future holds in

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<v Speaker 1>terms of hybrid work environment and like. And what was

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<v Speaker 1>fascinating is you saw that employees want to have some

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<v Speaker 1>control over the mix they have of coming into a

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<v Speaker 1>headquarters office working from home, we're going into a satellite

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<v Speaker 1>office or remote office of some kind, and that match

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<v Speaker 1>suite executives said the same thing, that they're willing to

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<v Speaker 1>give that degree of control really part of it. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>that's I find that interesting because there were some other

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<v Speaker 1>research that we've been talking about over the last couple

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<v Speaker 1>of weeks where you know, there's some disconnect between kind

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<v Speaker 1>of what employees or what companies think how well this

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<v Speaker 1>working from home is going versus employees who want the

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<v Speaker 1>flexibility but they also want that face time. I think

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<v Speaker 1>that's absolutely right. But there's a lot of common ground

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<v Speaker 1>as well, and a lot of it depends on the

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<v Speaker 1>nature of the job, the nature of the company, what

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<v Speaker 1>kind of culture they have, and how they deliver the

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<v Speaker 1>value to the to the end user. One thing that

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<v Speaker 1>you have a lot of commonality around is you're starting

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<v Speaker 1>to build the consensus in many environments where you'd look

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<v Speaker 1>at it sort of there's a one third, one third,

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<v Speaker 1>one third kind of model where you're hearing a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of people say, what we'd like to have is one

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<v Speaker 1>third in the headquarters office. What I'd like to have

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<v Speaker 1>is one third or something like that working from home,

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<v Speaker 1>and what I'd like to have is about a third

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<v Speaker 1>where I'm working from a satellite office or a disparate office.

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<v Speaker 1>And in fact, two thirds of employees are saying that's

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<v Speaker 1>what they like, which is to spend a good amount

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<v Speaker 1>of their time moving between multiple locations, and you have

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<v Speaker 1>sev C suite. They're saying, absolutely, we'd be very happy

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<v Speaker 1>with our employees operating in some form of a hybrid model,

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<v Speaker 1>depending on what's appropriate for my particular kind of environment. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I want to just say to kind of add on

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<v Speaker 1>to this um anecdotal evidence, but not really it's actual evidence.

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<v Speaker 1>One of our market watchers came on early in and said,

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<v Speaker 1>we set off, we set up our shut offices excuse me,

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<v Speaker 1>in New York City, moved out to Connecticut, and then

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<v Speaker 1>decided that when we need space, will just rent it,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, whether it's we work or something else. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>when we need our employees to get together. Are you

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<v Speaker 1>seeing this translate into you know, future business. Are you

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<v Speaker 1>seeing numbers to hire a people who want to tap

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<v Speaker 1>into we work offices because they just need it temporarily

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<v Speaker 1>to bring their their teams together, who have been working

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<v Speaker 1>from home and who are maybe expected to continue to

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<v Speaker 1>work that way. You see, is that part of its

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<v Speaker 1>temporary and part of it is it's a permanent flexibility.

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<v Speaker 1>And I think that's the part that actually is going

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<v Speaker 1>to be even more interesting. So you have some people

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<v Speaker 1>that right now large companies are turning around and saying, Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>we need to bring our people back because we believe

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<v Speaker 1>that productivity will be higher if we move away from

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<v Speaker 1>a complete work from home environment and bring our people together,

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<v Speaker 1>have them collaborate and be able to work together in

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<v Speaker 1>a more traditional kind of environment for at least part

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<v Speaker 1>of their day. But then you have a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>people who are looking at the world and saying, because

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<v Speaker 1>the way that we're working is evolving as quickly as

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<v Speaker 1>it is, we're not really committing to the next fifteen

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<v Speaker 1>years to commit to an office space. So what we'd

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<v Speaker 1>really like to do is commit to something for three

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<v Speaker 1>to five years. Is we can kind of see that

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<v Speaker 1>far and so let's do that and then as as

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<v Speaker 1>things play themselves out a little bit clearer than we

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<v Speaker 1>can decide if we need to accord you into bigger,

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<v Speaker 1>we need to accord you into smaller, and we want

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<v Speaker 1>to have that kind of flexibility on an ongoing basis.

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<v Speaker 1>So you have that that's going on. And also the

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<v Speaker 1>nature of the space that people want is change it.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, if I'm going to bring people in, what

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<v Speaker 1>I'd like them to do is collaborate, which means I

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<v Speaker 1>need to configure my office in a very different way

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<v Speaker 1>than I used to when I had people come in

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<v Speaker 1>just to have head down space where they're working on

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<v Speaker 1>their own. But does that mean you guys are seeing

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<v Speaker 1>um science. I want to talk a bit more about

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<v Speaker 1>the survey, and we're going to take a break, do

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<v Speaker 1>some news and come back. But in terms of we work,

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<v Speaker 1>are you you seeing people kind of reach out to

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<v Speaker 1>you increasingly because they need your services, because they've shut

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<v Speaker 1>down kind of on their their own workspace because they

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<v Speaker 1>want they're going to have this hybrid environment. Absolutely. So,

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<v Speaker 1>I think one thing that people oftentimes don't recognize about

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<v Speaker 1>the footprint that we work at roughly half our business

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<v Speaker 1>comes to large enterprises, and so we've hit historic We've

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<v Speaker 1>done a lot of work with them, and they in

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<v Speaker 1>particular are coming to us and say, because we're changing

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<v Speaker 1>this environment, help us design a footprint that works in

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<v Speaker 1>a different way than the footprint we used to have.

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<v Speaker 1>We also have half our business coming from small medium

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<v Speaker 1>sized enterprises and traditional single person operation and they're coming

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<v Speaker 1>back in in much more rapid where than the large

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<v Speaker 1>companies are right now. So we're seeing them come back

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<v Speaker 1>into a more normalized work environment in certain geographies, and

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<v Speaker 1>we're seeing a geographically business. You know, we have a

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<v Speaker 1>thirty eight country footprint and we've got about fifty million

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<v Speaker 1>square feet around the world. We're getting to see it

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<v Speaker 1>in a lot of different environments. From the same time, Hey,

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<v Speaker 1>sham I teased with our news anchor Charlie Palette about

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<v Speaker 1>what he would be willing to sack office in terms

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<v Speaker 1>of a benefit or perk. You guys have some research

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<v Speaker 1>on that tell us a little bit about it absolutely

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<v Speaker 1>so that the answer is six of employees would be

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<v Speaker 1>willing to not only trade off something, but they'd be

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<v Speaker 1>willing to actually pay out of pocket to be able

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<v Speaker 1>to have some control and be able to actually get

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<v Speaker 1>another space that they could go work at that's different

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<v Speaker 1>from their headquarters. Pay out of their pockets, pay out

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<v Speaker 1>of their pocket. That's how valuable people find this flexibility

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<v Speaker 1>to be. And the other stat that that jumped out

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<v Speaker 1>at me is employees would be willing to give up

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<v Speaker 1>at least one benefit or perk, including healthcare coverage, cash bonuses,

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<v Speaker 1>paid time off for the freedom to choose their work environment. Absolutely. Absolutely,

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<v Speaker 1>So it's a very different environment we're talking about than

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<v Speaker 1>what it used to look like years ago. So you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's interesting too because one of the findings is that

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<v Speaker 1>the majority three quarters of the C suite saying that

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<v Speaker 1>they're likely to give their employees a stipend to work

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<v Speaker 1>from home or coworking space. I mean, when it comes

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<v Speaker 1>down to it, for a company, if they don't have

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<v Speaker 1>to house as many employees, I mean, that's a big

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<v Speaker 1>line item on the balance sheet. That's a big out

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<v Speaker 1>line item on the balance sheet. The other thing that

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<v Speaker 1>people are really interested in is engagement, royalty and being

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<v Speaker 1>able to build that that culture. And one of the

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<v Speaker 1>things I found most striking is when we looked at

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<v Speaker 1>what the mix was and asked employees, How engaged are

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<v Speaker 1>you and how how highly do you recommend your company?

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<v Speaker 1>The ones that were more engaged and the ones that

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<v Speaker 1>were less engaged tended to want to be in the

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<v Speaker 1>headquarters about the same So I was a little surprising,

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<v Speaker 1>but both of them wanted to be in headquarters about

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<v Speaker 1>a third of their attack. What was interesting is that

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<v Speaker 1>people who were more engaged wanted to be homeless and

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<v Speaker 1>preferred to be in either in a coworking space or

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<v Speaker 1>in some sort of satellite office, versus the people were

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<v Speaker 1>less engaged who tended to want to be home more.

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<v Speaker 1>So it's interesting is the ones that want that are

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<v Speaker 1>actually engaged tend to want to be in headquarters and

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<v Speaker 1>in satellite office or coworking environment at home less, and

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<v Speaker 1>the ones who want to be home more tend to

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<v Speaker 1>be the ones that are less engaged. So let me

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<v Speaker 1>ask you something, because I'm just thinking folks are going

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<v Speaker 1>to be like, well, yeah, of course we work is

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<v Speaker 1>going to be saying, you know, showing a survey where

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<v Speaker 1>people you know will rent space to get together and

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<v Speaker 1>that they'll want the flexibility because this is certainly your book.

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<v Speaker 1>So what would you say to something like somebody like

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<v Speaker 1>that although you know, to be fair, we've been seeing

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<v Speaker 1>kind of this trend happen over the last decade, this

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<v Speaker 1>flexibility in the working environment. But what would you say

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<v Speaker 1>to somebody's like, well, of course you guys are going

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<v Speaker 1>to be, you know, talking about something like this. It's

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<v Speaker 1>something that we're very interested and that's what we're talking

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<v Speaker 1>about before the break. We obviously have this big foot

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<v Speaker 1>that we've been able to see what's happened in China,

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<v Speaker 1>We've been able to see what's happening in the Far East,

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<v Speaker 1>what's happening in Europe, and what's happening in the US,

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<v Speaker 1>what's happening in Latin America, and how this is playing

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<v Speaker 1>itself out. And what we're seeing across the board is

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<v Speaker 1>that people want to have their right now on So

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<v Speaker 1>from our perspective as a business, if somebody wants to

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<v Speaker 1>lease a headquarters from us, will lease in the headquarters.

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<v Speaker 1>If they want to have flexible space, will lease the

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<v Speaker 1>flexible space. So work from home or work from not

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<v Speaker 1>in headquarters is to our interest. So all of those

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<v Speaker 1>play out in the same way, and that's been sort

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<v Speaker 1>of the macro trend that the company has been built on.

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<v Speaker 1>So this particular thing I think is more informative about

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<v Speaker 1>what we're actually seeing. It's very consistent with what we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing of the marketplace, and and what you're going to

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<v Speaker 1>see is that people are increasingly interested in how do

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<v Speaker 1>I retain my people, how do I do it in

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<v Speaker 1>a way that's consistent with the value that I need

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<v Speaker 1>to deliver to my end user, and how does that

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<v Speaker 1>different bite department and create much more a custom model

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<v Speaker 1>than everybody comes in nine to five every day into headquarters.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's what we're seeing. And this is just sort

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<v Speaker 1>of a a more refined view so that other people

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<v Speaker 1>can see what we're seeing in ourselves. Just go about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty seconds left. I think that's really important that you,

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<v Speaker 1>like a lot of other Mobile CEOs that I've been

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<v Speaker 1>talking to, said, you know, listen, we saw the virus

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<v Speaker 1>in the Impact early because we were over in Asia.

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<v Speaker 1>We've also seen the recovery earlier because we are in Asia.

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<v Speaker 1>But what you're seeing in China is showing that people

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<v Speaker 1>want this flexibility and they want to do it differently.

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<v Speaker 1>And just got about thirty seconds here. Well that's what

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<v Speaker 1>we've started to say, right, So in China, we've got

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<v Speaker 1>the people back in Asia, if we've probably got seventy

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<v Speaker 1>percent of people back in general. In Europe we're probably

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<v Speaker 1>seeing something that operates a little more like fifty. And

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<v Speaker 1>in the US it's in the high thirties that we're

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<v Speaker 1>back to kind of normal and and you're starting to

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<v Speaker 1>see things like we have a set of offerings where

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<v Speaker 1>people can go into any building, and that's where we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing a lot of pick up on as well. So

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<v Speaker 1>people who say, Okay, I want to be able to

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<v Speaker 1>choose where I go at any moment in time. So

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<v Speaker 1>I think this is something we've been building to. Technologies

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<v Speaker 1>played a tough out and now we're started to see

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<v Speaker 1>it come to a head, right, the innovation, the disruption,

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<v Speaker 1>it just kind of continues here. Hey, Sham, thank you

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<v Speaker 1>so much. Really appreciate it. Sham, get them all. President,

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<v Speaker 1>Chief operating officer over at we work, joining us on

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<v Speaker 1>the phone in San Francisco,