Microsoft ’s S-1 filing said it has 527,000 members , a term that inflates the number of members it has since an undisclosed portion of its memberships are empty , unused desks . Members refers to the number of people of companies that lease space , while memberships refers to the number of desks and workstations they are paying for . The company charges per desk rather than the industry average sq ft , and it allots around 50 sq ft per person , which is about 20 % the norm for commercial offices industry wide . WeWork says its business model is space as a service, so instead of charging per square foot, like a traditional lease, it charges by the desk, former employees told us. Many members pay for more desks that they actually use , in addition to which 6 % of WeWork members are on - demand customers that pay a small monthly fee for access to the office twice a month .
Microsoft ’s S-1 filing said it has 527,000 members , a term that inflates the number of members it has since an undisclosed portion of its memberships are empty , unused desks . Members refers to the number of people of companies that lease space , while memberships refers to the number of desks and workstations they are paying for . The company charges per desk rather than the industry average sq ft , and it allots around 50 sq ft per person , which is about 20 % the norm for commercial offices industry wide . Many members pay for more desks that they actually use , in addition to which 6 % of WeWork members are on - demand customers that pay a small monthly fee for access to the office twice a month .