Behind The Scenes: What WeWork Observes In How AI Is Transforming The Workplace

Doing more with less, recognising the need for human skills and realising that, while essential, real estate must be agile — these are a few of the lessons being learned as businesses embrace artificial intelligence.  

This is the view from WeWork Head of International Accounts Leila Zreik. The flexible space operator’s wide-reaching vantage point gives it a unique insight into how AI is impacting workplace strategies around the globe, she said.

Bisnow spoke to Zreik about how the rapid growth of AI is fuelling change among its membership base and how businesses are strategising to create the best workplace strategy for their business. 

Bisnow: How does WeWork’s network of spaces give you a unique vantage point into different businesses’ workplace strategies? 

Leila Zreik: WeWork operates more than 600 locations in 37 countries. This gives us a uniquely broad perspective on the business ecosystem in more than 150 cities across the globe. 

Every day, we’re speaking with C-level executives, including chief financial officers, heads of HR and heads of real estate, to understand their workplace strategy needs, challenges they’re facing and what's influencing their decisions now for the future. 

What’s more, our network spans freelancers, small businesses and venture-backed startups to large corporations in technology, finance and traditional industries like law and pharmaceutical. We see a diverse range of business priorities, pace of growth and headcount needs. It’s fascinating. 

Because WeWork has been around since 2010, we’re now drawing on 15 years of conversations and anonymised data to understand how broader macro shifts are shaping workplace strategies over time.

Bisnow: What macro trends are you seeing in how companies are responding to the rapid growth of AI?

Zreik: We’re seeing more measured headcount growth from venture capital-backed companies compared to the post-Covid funding boom, for a couple of reasons. First, AI allows smaller teams to achieve more with less, and second, the funding environment today is more cautious and hasn’t yet returned to the heights we saw in 2021. 

We’re also seeing growing demand from enterprises in more traditional industries that are trying to quickly develop AI capabilities and avoid being disrupted. The way they do this is by either setting up in-house AI innovation hubs or acquiring smaller AI startups. 

Lastly, AI applications are evolving so fast that the future is more uncertain than ever before. It's becoming increasingly hard for decision-makers to predict what their headcount will look like two years out, even one year out, and we’re having more conversations with heads of real estate to help them future-proof their decisions and integrate flexibility into their workplace strategy.

Bisnow: From your conversations with HR professionals, how is AI reshaping talent strategy and workforce structures?

Zreik: AI is reshaping talent strategies in real time, and workforce composition is evolving. Businesses have more of one team and less of another. Some jobs are being replaced, but new ones are emerging. 

For example, some companies are building central teams of project managers who are AI-proficient and can streamline workflows by acting like an interface between cross-functional teams and AI tools and models.

As AI takes on more of the quantitative tasks, employees have more time to generate true value leveraging their uniquely human skills, such as emotional intelligence, collaboration and influence. A direct consequence of that is the way companies choose to design their offices. 

This shows up in customisation of layout requests that we are receiving from clients. Companies still need focus areas, but they’re putting more value than they used to on collaboration zones and spaces where people can share ideas and innovate. 

AI is also shifting workplace dynamics. In the past, fierce competition for talent gave employees more leverage to work from home. Now, with some roles reshaped or replaced by AI, the bargaining power is tilting back toward employers.

As a result, we’re seeing a larger trend towards return-to-office mandates. The most progressive companies are recognising the need to create workplaces that people want to come to. 

Bisnow: What is your opinion on concerns that remote jobs are more likely to be replaced by AI?

Zreik: I don’t think this will happen at all. Fully remote jobs aren’t automatically vulnerable to being replaced by AI. Many roles that rely heavily on soft skills, such as entire sales teams, thrive in remote setups, and I don’t see that changing.

Bisnow: What are most companies overlooking when it comes to creating a workplace strategy that is AI-ready?

Zreik: Companies underestimate the need for an agile real estate strategy. AI is changing things so fast that teams may adapt their work today leveraging AI, only to face another shift six months later. Without flexible real estate, catching up becomes costly. 

Additionally, you need infrastructure to build AI. This is sometimes overlooked. It doesn’t have to be a huge setup, but a server room or small high-performance machine is necessary, and we’ve delivered that type of space for AI companies on our platform.

Bisnow: What business risks are involved with jumping on the AI bandwagon?

Zreik: I think it's threefold. First, there’s a risk of overestimating which tasks can be automated with AI and underestimating the human skills behind them, such as judgment, collaboration and creativity. All of these are still critical for driving and delivering meaningful work. 

Second, there’s the challenge of adopting AI systems internally. Some companies will find it easier than others, but realistically, everyone’s going to face that hurdle in some way. 

Lastly, there’s the market itself. Companies launching new AI products are up against serious competition, with tools becoming increasingly accessible. Plus, there’s the added complexity of navigating regulatory uncertainty, which varies widely across regions. There’s a lot to get right.

Bisnow: As more of your members revamp their workplace strategies, what is their motivation for investing in the office experience?

Zreik: A survey by Gensler a year or so ago revealed that 90% of high-performing employees say they work better in well-designed environments. That’s a pretty strong signal for companies: If you want engaged, high-performing teams, the workplace really matters. That’s why we’re seeing more and more companies invest in their office space and in design that fosters collaboration or inspires productivity. 

More than half the time when we’re showing space to decision-makers, they’re asking for open floor plans and collaboration areas. Why? Because being together helps break down silos, sparks spontaneous conversations and leads to the kind of ideas you just don’t get over a screen. 

It’s a really interesting shift. Modern companies no longer look at the office as just a cost. They see it as a value-creating investment to attract and empower great talent and drive performance. It’s all about keeping employees engaged. 

People don’t just work to earn a paycheck. They’re also looking for purpose, belonging and recognition. And this will become even more important in the age of AI. 

This article was produced in collaboration between WeWork and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.