Finance

WeWork just overhauled how workers are getting paid, and we have the memo detailing new equity grants and its cash bonus plan

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WeWork Chairman Marcelo Claure is shepherding the company through a restructuring. Riccardo Savi/Getty Images; Xinhua/Pei Xin via Getty Images; Ruobing Su/Business Insider
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WeWork is restructuring its employee-compensation package, according to an email sent to staff Thursday afternoon that Business Insider obtained.

Matt Jahansouz, WeWork's head of people, outlined the new structure, which includes base salary, an annual cash bonus, and annual equity grants. Previously, employees had equity but not through an annual grant system. The plan takes effect in January. 

Jahansouz was promoted internally to the role two weeks ago as one of four executive changes. He joined WeWork in February after nearly nine years in human-resources roles at Goldman Sachs, where he was most recently the managing director and global head of recruiting.

A company representative declined to comment. 

Despite laying off 2,400 staffers this quarter, WeWork plans to hire more next year. The reworked compensation plan is intended to both attract new talent and retain existing employees after a tumultuous fall, a source with knowledge of the change said.

Compensation will be tied to member experience, a key part of Chairman Marcelo Claure's vision for righting the company, he said in an all-staff meeting two weeks ago that was leaked to Business Insider.

Jahansouz wrote in the email that since compensation is now addressed, he'll work on concerns about employee experience. 

"We need to provide you with an unmatched employee experience that you cannot find anywhere else. We have taken positive steps on compensation, and experience is where we will spend our time next," he wrote. 

Here's the portion of Jahansouz's memo that lays out the new compensation plan: 

    • Base Salary: 
      • Salaries will continue to align with the market and will be based on level, job family, and location. 
      • We will continue to run an annual merit increase cycle to review and adjust employee salaries in line with market.
      • In 2020, we will communicate base salary increases in February, which will be retroactive to January 1, 2020.
    • Annual Cash Bonus: 
      • Employees will have a target annual cash bonus based on level; the target is a percentage of your base salary. 
      • Annual cash bonuses can be paid from 0% to 150% of target, depending on performance metrics. For the first annual cash bonus, there is a guaranteed "floor" of 50% of target for annual bonuses in year one to ensure a minimum payout.
      • The first annual cash bonus will be accrued during the 2020 calendar year and paid in February 2021.
    • Annual Equity Grant:
      • Each employee will have a target annual stock option grant based on level. That target can vary based on location.
      • We have decided to provide employees both their 2020 and their 2021 equity awards in February 2020.
      • Note that if you work primarily in China, Japan, or the Pacific (excluding India and Australia), you may be eligible for local incentives that look and feel like the equity we give at WeWork so that you can benefit from the growth potential in these regions.
      • While we intend to grant top-to-bottom equity globally to all employees, if we are unable to grant equity in certain countries as a result of local law considerations, we will evaluate an alternative compensation design that provides similar pay for performance.

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Meghan Morris
Meghan is the bureau chief in Singapore. She oversees business, lifestyle, and news coverage and leads the company's local hiring and editorial strategy.Singapore's bureau works on global news during Asia's daytime. They also collect tales from around the region about entrepreneurs, Big Tech work culture, FIRE, relocation, consumer trends, and AI, focused on people-centric storytelling.Before moving to Singapore in 2024, Meghan worked in NYC and SF as a senior correspondent, writing deeply-reported business investigations. If you have sensitive information, please email her from a nonwork email or reach out on secure messaging app Signal at @MeghanEMorris.1 (PR pitches only by email.)She enjoys speaking about tech, finance, and news on television, at conferences, and on podcasts. Please email for booking.These are some of her favorite features she has written over the years:She spent the 2022-23 academic year doing Columbia University's Knight-Bagehot Fellowship, where she took courses in statistics, advanced corporate finance, family office management, and other classes at Columbia Business School. During her fellowship, she also led MBA seminars on due diligence and brought Pulitzer-winning authors to the business school.Before she joined Business Insider in 2018, she wrote about private equity real estate for three years at the industry's trade magazine, PERE. Meghan holds bachelor's and master's journalism degrees from Northwestern University.