Slack @WeWork: The Importance of Digital Communication Tools for Scaling Company Culture

I always liked to get into the office extra early on Mondays, not because I wanted to impress my boss, but because I wanted to make it in time to get free avocados and hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, which would disappear by 8am. Monday, July 16, 2018 was an extra special day at WeWork HQ, as it was my first all company meeting. Hundreds of people were gathered around the large projector screens on the top floor at the WeWork Headquarters in Chelsea Manhattan, waiting for Adam Neumann, the founder and CEO, to appear on screen. During all company meetings the headquarters were always the quietest, because people were either plugged into a computer or gathered by the projector half-awake waiting for their artisanal espresso to kick-in. On that Monday in July, Adam Neumann announced that WeWork would become a meatless company- they would no longer “serve or pay for meat at WeWork events”[i] for environmental reasons. People’s reactions ranged from anger, joy, and confusion. Within minutes the WeWork internal Slack channel was exploding with employees’ personal opinions and philosophical debates about meat consumption on the new channel, #Meatless. 

 #Meatless became an open and safe space for employees to debate and express their feelings about the company’s recent culture change. The conversations started like this “This will not be good for business or morale” or “I am very proud to be an employee here *Green heart emoji* ”. Neumann and McKelvey encouraged people to reach out them if anyone had questions and concerns. The #Meatless Slack channel was very active for the rest of that week. Sure, people talked about the recent culture shock over lunch or Kambucha-on-tap breaks. But for the people that were most angered and who wanted to release some steam, the dialogue was brewing online. Slack facilitated complete transparency within the company during this time of change as the conversation was happening in such a public way. Any concerns were addressed immediately by the leadership team online in front of everyone’s eyes. Within a week the Slack channel had died down and people were eating free veggie burgers with a smile on their face.

WeWork has 562 locations, in 97 cities across 31 countries and growing. All 5,000 employees are connected by one Slack Account headquarter in NYC. My team meetings consisted of a big screen with many little zoom boxes and a running Slack thread. When we were not on calls with each other, we would be Slacking the rest of the team in India, Israel, and Brazil. Email was strictly used for professional communication. Slack allowed us to blur the line to build more informal relationships with our coworkers abroad and the ones sitting right next to us at HQ. As quoted by a WeWork employee: “It is beautiful to watch company culture shape on our team channel in real time. The platform requires rules of engagement, but once they are in place, it’s very powerful.”[ii]

Slack was also used to amplify the company's values. An example of that were the very active affinity Slack channels on diversity and inclusion such as #WomenofWe and #PrideofWe. These channels existed to foster conversations on these sensitive topics. In my opinion the visibility of such channels on an online network across the entire company drilled in WeWork’s values. I would attend breakfast’s organized by the #WomenofWe where I got to connect with professional women outside of my team to talk about my professional path. Other times I would grab lunch with someone I was matched with through Donut, a Slack feature that paired you with other Slack members weekly. The opportunities to be part of a specific WeWork community or meet individuals were endless.

 Why do digital communication tools like, Slack, matter so much?

Through Slack, WeWork was able to build community amongst employees, encourage transparency and solidify ethos. This week, CBs Insights in partnership with The New York Times released a list 50 start-ups to be the next unicorns. As the startup enthusiast that I am, I went through each and every one and wondered what about them attracted their first 10-50 employees. What were their values? How did they implement them daily? Where would I fit in? As the unicorns-to-be are trying to attract top talent to jump on board with them, they need to think about ways to create and sustain an engaged culture for the type of talent they are trying to attract. Internal use of technological communication tools, if managed right, can do just that. Whether they use Slack, Yammer, Basecamp or any combination of digital tools, they should think about which tech would best enable them to conveys their values.

A week after my internship ended, I noticed I was still logged into WeWork’s Slack channel. “What a great surprise” I thought! I wasn’t ready to leave the company emotionally yet. I checked Slack on and off when I felt nostalgic and missed the community. But like one does with any ex, I contemplated deleting the account, and always ended up chickening out. One morning I went to check my Slack and my account was deactivated. Email will have to do for now.

#studentvoices #BabsonMIS7535

[i] McKelvey, Miguel. 2018.

[ii] Orgel, Cynthia. “Slack.” Creator, 2017, www.wework.com/creator/?testimonial=slack.