HR at WeWork Strategic HR
strategic. This first involved ringing
some changes within the talent
acquisition function itself.
“My recruiters were very
generalist – two of them had been
here since the very beginning when
they just did everything. They were
the people partners, the people
operations, the recruiters, the
counsellors… their roles
encompassed everything and they
would hire all across the business.”
One of Houston’s priorities has
been expanding her team from
seven to 22 and creating more
defined roles where recruiters
specialise in hiring for certain
parts of the business. Another is
introducing employer branding for
the first time.
International expansion
Employer branding is crucial to
recruiting talent to enable
WeWork’s growth in new and
existing EMEA markets. In the past
year the team hired 900 people,
accounting for almost 10% of the
total 10,000-strong global
workforce, and taking the EMEA
zone to a portfolio of more than 70
open locations.
“In the US it’s more of an
established brand and people speak
the same language across the
country. In our region we’re not
only launching into markets where
the brand doesn’t exist yet but we
also have different languages,
cultures and behaviours,” she says.
“We need to make sure we have
the people we need to launch
successfully in those markets by
creating hiring strategies that
are locally relevant, while also
keeping the WeWork global
mindset as well.”
Both recruiting local talent and
seconding staff on international
assignments is key, Houston
explains: “We don’t talk about
culture fit but culture add.”
Protecting the culture
Despite recent events there’s a lot
about the culture that’s important
to protect as the organisation
scales, says Houston.
She shares how she was drawn to
join the business by its sense of
community. “I used to walk past a
Senior director of talent
acquisition for EMEA
Stephanie Houston
We don’t
talk about
culture fit but
culture add
hrmagazine.co.uk November 2019 HR 29
/hrmagazine.co.uk