I don't really understand the fascination/surprise at wework and similar. It's just office space, packaged in a way that suits a few underserved markets.
Flexibility is valuable, and was previously underavailable. It also turned out that a lot of the "work-from-home" people would like office space, if it's nice and they can afford it.
What is so surprising or notable here? A slightly quirky aesthetic? Espresso?
The whole point of the article is that it's not.
"All its accessories serve to buttress its real product: “office culture” as a service."
It might be more helpful to address the flaws in their argument than merely to state its opposite.
How do you argue that it is, in fact, a drink?
If the article touches anything like 'class' it doesn't touch it in the first couple of thousand words.
I never knew, maybe they should advertise this more.
The entire message is aesthetic: there's no dialog or text at all, let alone an argument as to why WeWork would benefit your organization. It struck me as more like lifestyle-brand advertising than anything.
It’s just interesting they took something like renting out office space and made it something like that
That said, the building setup itself isn't all that great to work in, since despite the perks, actual basics of office maintenance seem to be ignored/shoved under the rug by the company. If your lifts have problems, you can't afford to give out too many ID cards, the microwaves keep failing and the bathrooms aren't cleaned properly, it doesn't matter how many arcade machines and ping pong tables you have.
Image and marketing matters, as much as engineers wish it didn't
Well, that's one less place I'll be spending my money online.
Largely, it's one the PR company / WeWork are happy to pay because they get to say they've been in the NYT, they get exposed to new potential new customers without having to pay per lead, and 'WeWorking' becomes a step closer to being a verb with WeWork's brand attached to it.