I am having the same problem.
According to this thread [1] the issue could be with libgtkmm. I have not tried downgrading yet.
I have found a temporary work-around for the issue. If VMware Workstation is opened as root it will remain open. But you will be without your settings. You will have to manually readd your machines.
[1]:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1273288Erik Dahlinghaus