Adam Neumann is wary of workers who greet the weekend with relief. “That must mean you are not doing what you love,” the chief executive of trendy office space provider WeWork says. His TGI Monday initiative, where staff dine together and then work late, sometimes until 3am, “is all about celebrating the new week”. Challenging the workplace orthodoxy has powered Mr Neumann to the top of an $18bn (£14bn) company, although most of the time he speaks as if he is leading a movement of the self-employed and start-ups. He has no truck with nine-to-fivers who like to punch timesheets – preferring instead to help creatives create their life’s work. “Let’s not look at working hard as a negative, let’s look at it as an uplifting opportunity for us to be better,” he says with messianic zeal that has propelled the business of desk rental into a buzzy lifestyle concept with funky furnishings and a collegiate atmosphere. Since opening its doors in New York in 2010, WeWork has amassed nearly 130,000 members in 45 cities on five continents. London is its second largest market, behind the Big Apple, and its fastest growing with 14 sites open and another five in the pipeline. Over eight floors, its Moorgate location in the City claims to be the largest co-working space in the world. Next up is Manchester, with a space opening early next year.
The CEO of office space provider WeWork, Adam Neumann, believes working environments should be positive places for employees, rather than being viewed negatively. WeWork, which Neumann founded in New York City in 2010, has approximately 130,000 members across five continents in 45 cities, with another five locations due to open. Neumann believes the WeWork business model is “extremely strong”, noting its high renewal rates and interest from both entrepreneurs and corporate clients. “We have a lot more people coming into our offices now because they see us as an environment that encourages them to work at their full potential,” he said.