TORONTO -- The CEO of WeWork has courted controversy after he declared the least engaged employees are 鈥渧ery comfortable鈥� working from home, while those who are 鈥渦berly engaged鈥� want to get back to the office.
Sandeep Mathrani, the CEO of the commercial real estate company which provides flexible shared workspaces for businesses, during a Wall Street Journal event on Wednesday.
鈥淭hose who are uberly engaged with the company want to go to the office two-thirds of the time, at least,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose who are least engaged are very comfortable working from home.鈥�
Mathrani, who took over as WeWork CEO in February, said that employees need to spend time together in an office for collaboration and efficiency.
鈥淧eople are happier when they come to work,鈥� he remarked. 鈥淭he bigger issue is do you come to work five days a week or do you come to work three days a week? That鈥檚 the bigger issue. There鈥檚 no issue of not coming to a common place.鈥�
While Mathrani promoted the benefits of office life, many online commentators appeared to take issue with his opinion on the type of employees who enjoy working from home.
Some users pointed out that Mathrani may be biased given his company鈥檚 business model.
鈥渋 wonder why the ceo of a company that rents office space would say this,鈥� .
鈥淲ait you're saying the CEO of a business that rents office space to other companies says people should go into the office,鈥� .
Others defended their engagement and productivity since working remotely.
鈥淗e鈥檚 wrong, I鈥檓 much happier and less stressed working from home, and this helps my interaction with my customers; I鈥檓 much more engaged, and then my Voc( voice of the customer) scores higher, and the company is viewed better. Let us stay home!鈥� .
鈥淚 regularly complete 40 hours worth of office work in 8-12 at-home hours, because I don't have to listen to cross-talk, drama, petty bickering, or attend multiple meetings that reiterate the e-mail I received and already took action on. Shut up micromanaging WeWork CEO,鈥� .
Ann Johnson, a corporate vice president at Microsoft, also waded into the conversation with a tweet of her own.
鈥淚f the only way you can keep your employees engaged is by being in the office with them, you have a leadership issue - not an employee engagement issue,鈥� .
in March that it would be implementing a hybrid model that combines remote and office work.
Several other high-profile tech companies, including Facebook, Twitter and Shopify, have also announced future work plans consisting of either permanent remote work or a hybrid model.
