WeWork India, a coworking firm, has announced the first-ever ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) surrender exercise, in which workers can surrender up to 25% of their vested stock options.
“In the last six years of building WeWork India, we have had many significant milestones and are thankful to our employees for believing in our vision,” said Karan Virwani, CEO of WeWork India.
“As an organization, we have always adopted an employee-first approach, and the ESOP surrender is yet another step towards wealth creation and empowering people,” he added.
WeWork first entered India in 2017, and since then, 45 locations in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad total of 6.4 million sq ft. The company entered Delhi by leasing a 54,000 sq ft office space from the real estate firm Eldeco.
ESOPs are typically vested over a few years and are frequently utilized to attract or keep talent within an organization. The employer often buys back vested stocks at fair market value, which was established through valuation in previous funding rounds, or the employee can sell them on public markets at open market valuation.
According to research by Knight Frank India, coworking firms or flex space operators have become important players in India’s commercial real estate industry, accounting for 29% of the space that was traded during Q1 2023.
The survey states that flex space operators traded a substantial 50% of the total space in Bengaluru. The IT and BFSI sectors accounted for 16% of all enterprises, while other services sector companies were the most active.
Leaders in the industry favour the “back to office” transition for the IT industry, and physical occupancy is improving in every sector.
