The lawyer Katharina von Schacky has been managing the German subsidiary of the office rental company WeWork since March 2022. Previously, she had worked for the company in various positions since 2020.
Dusseldorf The history of WeWork is, to put it mildly, turbulent. Founded in New York in 2010 as a provider of coworking space for companies and private users, the company now has 723 locations worldwide in 119 cities. In between there was a failed IPO, the resignation of founder and ex-CEO Adam Neumann after various scandals and a global Covid pandemic, in which some people were no longer allowed to go to the office. WeWork’s sales collapsed accordingly, and employees had to be laid off.
The lawyer and current WeWork Germany boss Katharina von Schacky joined the company in January 2020 – shortly after the failed IPO and shortly before the beginning of the pandemic.
In the Handelsblatt podcast Rethink Work with Charlotte Haunhorst, she says about this time: “Before that, I had a very lovable former boss who I’m still friends with today. He said to me: ‘I’ll offer you any job so that you stay. Do you really want to do this?’”
Back then, despite all the circumstances, she was convinced by the vision of WeWork. “I come from the trade, which I have been in charge of for many years. There was also a big change with the start of online trading and the development towards omni-channels. I was aware of this upheaval. And now I just wanted to sit on the other side. Not on the stationary trade on the way to an online company, but on the side of the pioneer. That drives us.”
Today, WeWork Germany focuses primarily on large cities and flexible solutions – for example, customers can use the offices worldwide. Through the merger with another company, the IPO took place at the end of 2021, and the company’s sales are increasing. Von Schacky himself also believes in the future of the office concept, insofar as employees are given the choice.
“I think the important thing is that you grow sustainably. But if we are well occupied at a location, then of course we look for new space. Because we see, read and hear that the flexible market will continue to grow,” says von Schacky. “I think in Germany we are currently at three or four percent of the total market. The last number I just saw was that companies think it’s going to grow to 20 percent.”
In the current episode of Handelsblatt Rethink Work, you can hear to what extent von Schacky had to work through the WeWork scandals in the USA in her job in Germany, which home office rules apply at the company and what she pays attention to when she enters an office.
More: Listen to the previous episode of Rethink Work here.