WeWork CEO John Santora at Business Insider's The Long Play event. Carl Timpone/BFA

For WeWork's CEO, Fridays are for sneakers. Sometimes.

At Business Insider's The Long Play event on Thursday, John Santora told Deputy News Chief Cadie Thompson that he rebuilt WeWork in part by establishing a sense of trust and decorum among employees.

In pursuit of that goal, Santora instituted a dress code for employees, but also gave them one day a week to work from home.

"I didn't have the ability to go watch my son play a 3 o'clock baseball game," Santora said, adding, "We have to give our employees that flexibility to do all that."

Santora, formerly the chief operating officer at Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate firm, became WeWork's CEO in 2024 as the once-buzzy office startup emerged from a disastrous Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing .

Santora had a short time to decide whether to join the faltering company, he recalled.…