WeWork India cuts 20% staff, says hard decisions needed to sustain pandemic

Co-working major WeWork India has decided to lay off around 20 per cent of its staff as the coronavirus pandemic hits its businesses and revenues across the globe.

In an email, Karan Virwani, CEO, WeWork India, said that the company needs to make fundamental changes by streamlining its workforce around a more focused business strategy which would entail reduction of its workforce across different roles by around 20 per cent.

Virwani also noted in the communication that the first priority of the company is to get the maximum value from its buildings and reduce costs by the business efficiently.

In a statement, the CEO noted that the decisions impacting people are "some of the hardest" to make but it is required to build an effective and sustainable structure that supports the company and its members.

He also said that the company has optimised and planned its team strength based on the core business, and continues to execute its long-term business strategy in India and aim to be profitable by early 2021.

"We have realigned certain functions and teams to reflect our business priorities and a member-centric approach. While decisions that impact our people are some of the hardest to make, we believe that this step is required to build an effective and sustainable structure that supports the company and our members in the long term," Virwani said in the statement.

The US-headquartered co-working major operates around 34 centres in India and has a workforce of around 500 employees.

The company has already been under financial stress and the pandemic has worsened the situation. Globally also the company has taken to layoffs off late.