Dive Brief:

• Layoffs and hiring freezes are not usually the mark of growing companies, but WeWork, the fast-moving shared office space startup, has made both of those moves, according to Bloomberg.

• Bloomberg reports, after obtaining internal emails, that WeWork will jettison 7% of its workforce and put a temporary hiring freeze in place, adding that managers were told to start handing out pink slips this week. In research by Mattermark quoted in Bloomberg, WeWork has gone from a workforce of 230 in early 2015 to more than 1,000 today.

• While indicating in a statement that the layoffs "were part of the company's talent review process to ensure that we have the right teams in place that align with the company’s priorities," the company also noted it had added 175 people in May and a total of 500 or so new employees by year's end.

Dive Insight:

Bloomberg says WeWork is well-capitalized, but explained that investors are taking a much harder look at how startups spend their money. Investors, in fact, have been telling companies to make cuts. 

Employers and HR leaders must ensure they have the right talent in place to maintain their competitive edge. For example, long-time tech giant IBM, about as far from a startup as a company can get, also recently announced layoffs, but in the same breath noted they they would be hiring even more workers than were leaving, to meet their changing needs to remain competitive.

WeWork is also part of a boom in office share companies that could be partly attributed to the rise of freelancers and flexible work throughout the country.