WeWork employees told to go vegetarian

An office-sharing giant has told its 6000 staff that they can now only claim for meals that are vegetarian.

WeWork’s 6000 global staff have been told they will no longer be able to claim expenses for meals that include meat. Picture: istock

You don’t have to be vegetarian to work for the office-sharing giant WeWork but you might wish that you were now that it has all but banned meat.

The property company’s 6000 global staff have been told that in order to reduce its environmental footprint they will no longer be able to claim expenses for meals that include meat. It will also no longer provide red meat or poultry at company events.

“Research indicates that avoiding meat is one of the biggest things an individual can do to reduce their environmental impact,” Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of the US$20 billion company, which provides co-working spaces for businesses in more than 20 countries, told employees in an email.

He said that WeWork could save “an estimated 16.7 billion gallons of water, 445.1 million pounds of CO2 emissions and more than 15 million animals by 2023 by eliminating meat at events”.

The move opens a new frontier in efforts to diminish the environmental damage that businesses do, raising the bar far above providing recycling bins and bicycle purchase schemes.

It is also likely to inconvenience some staff in more carnivorous countries such as Argentina and China. Felix Salmon, a business commentator, said that it would “gain McKelvey plaudits among woke billionaires, at the cost of massive HR headaches and employee resentment”.

The Times