WeWork - April 2022

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Gary Levitan, Global Head of Procurement, Sourcing and Supply Chain, WeWork on why the time is now for flexible working and the need for procurement talent

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n the wake of the pandemic, organisations are looking for more flexibility. The Great Resignation has begun: according to US Bureau Of Labor Statistics, 4.3 million people left their jobs in December 2021 in the US alone.

In 2021, many employees began to rethink their relationship with employment, chasing higher wages, better work-life balance, better childcare, better safety and more flexibility.

Gary Levitan, Global Head of Procurement, Sourcing and Supply Chain at WeWork, says that the pandemic has increased its appeal as a flexible working space and solutions provider.

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“ Our vision is to provide flexible office solutions that better people and the environment” GARY LEVITAN

GLOBAL HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, WEWORK

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“Employees are demanding flexibility and that is our value proposition at WeWork,” he says. ”Our vision is to provide flexible office solutions that are better for people and the environment.”

WeWork services are categorised under three pillars: Space-as-a-Service; WeWork Access; and WeWork Workplace Since he joined the business back in 2021, WeWork has become a public company.

WeWork, 312 Arizona Ave Santa Monica

GARY LEVITAN TITLE: GLOBAL HEAD OF PROCUREMENT INDUSTRY: REAL ESTATE

“We are becoming a more mature organisation,” says Levitan. “We are creating processes and systems that are allowing us to scale and grow. But it’s not an easy transition from being a startup to being a company able to expand products and solutions to meet growing demand, in order to secure our long-term viability.

This process is a day to day reality at WeWork.”

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: NEW YORK, US Gary is a veteran Procurement leader with a deep passion for Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability. Gary is currently leading all procurement and supply chain efforts for WeWork with comprehensive responsibility for owning and managing spend across all Direct and Indirect categories globally.

Gary has 15 + years’ experience efficiently and effectively enabling spend owners, business units, and functional partners to maximise the value they receive from suppliers to meet and exceed their objectives.

Gary has been recognised as a respected leader and mentor of crossfunctional teams of senior sourcing and procurement professionals for recognisable global firms such as JPMorgan Chase, The Hudson’s Bay Company, and Saks Fifth Avenue.

WeWork, Friedrichstraße 76 Berlin (Below) WeWork, 419 Park Avenue New York (Right)

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“ We are creating processes and systems that are really allowing us to scale and grow” GARY LEVITAN

GLOBAL HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, WEWORK

Data’s role in organisational efficiency In his role, Levitan is not only responsible for managing the company’s global furniture-and-fixtures supply chain but also for procurement, category management, sourcing and spend control.

Of data, Levitan says: “It’s incredibly important. I know everybody says this, but we want to use data in a different way. Typically within procurement, sourcing and supply chain data is often underused in designing an efficient organisation and the employees needed to effectively run its operations.”

He adds: “Typically, building a procurement organisation is based on spend under management. There are industry benchmarks that most chief procurement officers use to guide staffing needs. So for example, a common industry metric is that for every US$50mn that you manage, there are benchmarks to say that you need X amount of full-time employees, then on top of that, the complexity of the category dictates the level of experience but typically that is then the end of the data.

The major weakness of this analysis is that wework.com

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it doesn’t take actual transactional volume, organisational nuance or product delivery into account resulting in a mismatch between bandwidth and headcount.

“But employees that are not engaged, busy, or working towards a goal - even if you have the best culture, leaders and benefits, become complacent. People want to keep busy, feel valued, learn new things and then move on. So this traditional 10

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benchmarking method doesn’t really work.”

Instead, Levitan is trying to incorporate into WeWork the practice of gaining as much ‘real world’ transactional data as possible. He says: “If you base the staffing plan of an organisation on this practice you are able to create volume levers in the future, balanced workloads, and airtight business cases for decision makers when you need to grow.”

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WeWork: The time for flexible work environments is now

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“ I realised that industry expertise and subject matter expertise is not as critical when it comes to category management as I used to think and is often a detriment” WeWork, 450 Lexington Ave New York

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GARY LEVITAN

GLOBAL HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, WEWORK

4K+

number of employees

700+ locations globally

150 cites

38

countries

590K+ physical memberships

45K+

All Access memberships *As of Dec 2021

WeWork, 155 West Street, Johannesburg

Category management: ‘It’s all about processes’ Throughout his career Levitan has been driven by different business strategies, many of which have fallen out of favour.

“At the beginning of my career, category management was a function that very few understood. I led some very specific categories - including sustainability and renewable energy - but then I started to oversee more commodity-based

categories, such as OPEX consumables, which are products and services that support day-to-day business. It was then that I realised industry expertise and subject-matter expertise is not as key to category management as I once believed.

Now, I actually think it can be detrimental,” says Levitan.

He adds: “For example, I had stakeholders with the same subject-matter expertise as me, and that created friction wework.com

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because I was too focused on finding the perfect solution, instead of understanding their goals and delivering on their needs.”

“But I learned that if you have a great end-to-end category management process, all you need to look for is talented, like-minded, eager, and passionate people.

With the run on talent right now, this is more important than ever.”

To this end, WeWork’s has a fivestep category-management toolset that allows Levitan to identify anybody with a desirable profile.

“Simply filling out various templates, conducting market research, and putting that information into graphs, is a category strategy in itself,” he says. “This in turn organically develops expertise that wasn’t there before.”

But the fact remains that - although the pandemic has raised the stock of procurement in boardrooms procurement and sourcing are not typical go-to college topics. “There is no educational framework for it,” says Levitan.

“Partnerships are critical [...] by leveraging partnerships organisations stand a chance in mitigating risks” GARY LEVITAN

GLOBAL HEAD OF PROCUREMENT, WEWORK

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“It’s not something kids are typically passionate about. This means we are missing out on like-minded people with the right talent attributes. So we can help the industry by creating these opportunities for people who may not necessarily know about procurement, sourcing and category management.”

How technology is changing procurement When it comes to technology in the procurement function, Levitan predicts there will be a shift in how technology is used in procurement.

“I think we are going to move away from self-contained procurement and supply chain ecosystems to best-in-class technology providers for each portion of the end-to-end process. Complete supply chain ecosystems are notoriously difficult to deploy, because not every function in supply and procurement is necessarily deeply related or integrated, especially in certain matrixed organisations.” wework.com

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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATEGORY EXPERTISE, SOURCING EXPERTISE AND GENERALISTS Gary Levitan, Global Head of Procurement, Sourcing and Supply Chain at WeWork outlines the difference between the three: •

DID YOU KNOW...

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Being a category expert is to be an industry subject matter expert.

Whether it’s experience in buying, sourcing, or managing, being a category expert the person really owns the product.

Sourcing expertise is less about specific industry expertise and more about having competitive process expertise. It’s about knowing how to find suppliers and how to rate and grade them. It is also about how to run an effective and competitive process, how to get stakeholders engaged, and how to make proper recommendations.

A generalist is someone who can flex into different categories and situations. They have broad industry, category and process experience and an eye for value.

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But one tool to do all that can leave gaps in the functions. Rest assured, Levitan sees emerging technology such as smart contracts, AI-supported demand forecasting, long tail spend management software, and intake and approval workflow platforms filling the gaps for each of these functions in procurement and supply chain.

When it comes to deploying any kind of technology, Levitan is a firm believer in looking before you leap. “You need to assess what is most important, then deploy best-in-class tools that serve your organisation best.”

He also stresses that organisations must not forget about change management. “I have seen too many supply chain platforms fail because the change-management project plan was too light.”

WeWork, 80 Strand Street Cape Town

WeWork and its partnerships “Partnerships are critical,” says Levitan.

“It’s a bit of a cliché, especially in the procurement world. Our global supply chains are posing never-before-seen complexities and only by proactively leveraging true, collaborative partnerships do organisations stand any chance of mitigating these potentially existential risks.”

Empire Office “Empire Office is an example of a partner who helps us buy furniture directly from multiple global manufacturers. Although our product is space, that space comes furnished with fixtures and technology, and we need to get those products to our customers and members on time,” says Levitan. “Our partnership with Empire allows us to deliver fully furnished space on time and on budget.”

This partnership helps WeWork create clear communication and clear expectations on both sides, at a time when having a reciprocal relationship is more critical than ever.

Cushman & Wakefield Cushman & Wakefield - a global commercial real estate services firm - believes in flexible office space as a viable option. They are invested in WeWork and the kind of service and amenities that it offers. They are going to be a valued collaborative partner going forward, especially since they have a lot of experience in large real-estate portfolios.

There will be a lot of synergy between WeWork and Cushman & Wakefield.

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