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We cofounder and CEO Adam Neumann
- Some employees worry that their time at WeWork could be a "black mark" on their résumés, according to $4
- Sebastian Gunningham recently warned employees the next few months would be difficult, according to the report, and "that anyone who wasn't interested in dealing with the transition ahead should probably consider getting out."
- Employees reportedly found out about Neumann's replacement co-CEOs through a memo the day he left.
- $4
Some $4 employees are worried that having the company's name on their résumés might act as a " black mark against them," following the recently postponed IPO and the departure of CEO and cofounder Adam Neumann, an article from New York Magazine reports.
Job experience at WeWork, which until just a couple of months ago seemed destined for a blockbuster IPO, was supposed to be a résumé highlight. But now, as reports of the chaotic, alcohol-fueled culture at WeWork proliferate, employees are getting nervous that the experience could actually count against them as they look for new jobs, an executive told Reeves Wiedeman at $4.
WeWork's Neumann presided over a company in which mandatory parties, nepotism and over-the-top behavior flourished, $4Now the office sharing company is trying to rehabilitate its image and impose financial discipline to staunch its financial losses.
"Thousands of people who worked tirelessly, because there's no other way to do it there, are going to end up screwed financially because they took lower income to have more equity that has disintegrated,"one executive told Reeves Wiedeman at $4. Several employees reported using their savings to buy stock options, which could leave them financially ruined. Before leaving, Neumann had already cashed out more than $700 million of the company's stock, The Wall Street Journal reported>$4 this summer.
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On September 24, the day Neumann was ousted from WeWork, the new co-CEOs sent a company wide memo announcing their new roles in the company, Intelligencer reports.>$4
According to the Intelligencer report, WeWork employees were divided about new co-CEOs Artie Minson and Sebastian Gunningham. Some were ready for a post-Neumann WeWork, but many wondered why the executives hadn't done more to keep Neumann in check. CFO Minson, formerly a Time Warner Executive, joined WeWork in 2015. Neumann once referred to him as the "adult in the room." Gunningham was vice-chairman of WeWork before taking on the new role.
Intelligencer reported that the most used reactions to the news on Slack were the WeWork logo, and emojis 😐, 😮, and 🙃. The co-CEOs said that they would act transparently, and that this was just the beginning, on a conference call with the entire company.
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On a call with senior employees the next day, Gunningham warned anyone not on board with a potentially difficult transition that they "should probably consider getting out," Intelligencer reported.
The WeWork employee concerns about their work history echo those of Uber employees at the height of its controversies a couple of years ago. In a 2017 $4 article, a hiring engineer explained that he would be compelled to ask "pointed questions" to former Uber employees because of the reports of inappropriate office culture.