Shared office company will add 250 jobs as it expands in Utah

A company that provides shared office and meeting space and online meeting software is expanding in Utah, planning to add 250 jobs over the next five years.

Salt Lake City-based Teem LLC, which was acquired last year by New York-based WeWork, made the announcement after being approved for a tax credit incentive by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board.

“We have enjoyed tremendous success in Utah in large part because this is such a great place to find and attract talent,” Shaun Ritchie, Teem CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We are excited to work with Gov. [Gary] Herbert’s administration to continue to expand our team and create economic opportunity in the place we call home.”

Teem, founded in 2012 and with 100 employees, offers room-booking, guest management, indoor navigation and analytics tools from its mobile and desktop apps to allow organizations to manage their offices more effectively. WeWork acquired Teem in September for a reported $100 million.

Tom Wadsworth, GOED’s business development and corporate incentives manager, said the jobs would be added in Salt Lake City and Lehi. Prior to the acquisition, WeWork had no operations outside of California and New York, he said.

“It’s going to be an experiment on the WeWork side. As I mentioned, they don’t have any operations outside of New York of San Francisco, and we’re hoping that these 250 jobs and the operations here will be a model for them to follow on with additional growth in the future,” Wadsworth said.

Mel Lavitt, chairman of the GOED board’s incentives committee, said WeWork “is going to be really, really big and they’ve got a huge head start. I think this gives us a huge leg up on expansion because once they’re here, I’m sure other cities will be vying for their expansion. …”

“It’s a tremendous opportunity,” Wadsworth added, “and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next few years, we’re talking about this the way we talked about Adobe acquiring Omniture.”

The $1 million project is expected to generate $3.1 million in new state tax revenue and $83.6 million in new wages over five years. The new positions — which will include research and development, sales, marketing, business development, finance and human resources — are expected to pay an average of $76,000 per year. The tax credit incentive is for up to $620,870.

“Teem is a great Silicon Slopes company and we are pleased they would expand and maintain their full operations in the state of Utah,” said Val Hale, GOED’s executive director. “Over the next five years, they will increase their business and provide high-wage positions here in the state of Utah.”

“Team Utah and I are thrilled at Teem’s decision to expand their existing presence in the state,” said Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “This announcement is yet another example of Utah’s strong tech sector and ability to bring and keep businesses for the long term. We are excited about the new opportunities that Teem will provide Utahns.”