Airbnb stated on Thursday that the "vast majority" of its workers would be permitted to work remotely and will not be required to take a salary reduction if they relocate away from the company's headquarters locations. According to a Twitter thread from Brian Chesky, co-founder, and CEO of the company, Airbnb is making the shift after experiencing "the most productive two years" in the firm's history while working remotely. However, it is worth mentioning that it also laid off a fourth of its workers during the same time period.
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Airbnb’s New & Improved Remote Work Policy
Airbnb is changing its remote work policy. Employees will also be allowed to "live and work in over 170 countries for up to 90 days per year in each location," provided they have a permanent address on file. Additionally, the firm will provide "team meetings, off-sites, and social activities" throughout the year to allow workers to interact with one another.
While Airbnb's new business model is novel, it is not unusual. Zillow and Reddit pledged that most of their staff would not face salary decreases after relocating to large metro regions in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Additionally, companies like Twitter, Square, and Dropbox have welcomed remote employment. However, several firms operate differently – workers at Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft will have to accept a wage reduction if they choose to relocate to a lower-cost-of-living location, according to BBC reporting (though some of those companies are more friendly towards remote work than others).
While Airbnb's new remote work policies seem admirable, it isn't easy to hold the firm up as a model of how to treat workers. It laid off 1,900 employees, or a fourth of its staff, a few months into the epidemic. According to The New York Times, the company's principles of belonging, affection, and being like a family were thrown out the window as it faced the prospect of substantially decreased travel charges. It almost seems as if the company's new rules are a consolation for its surviving employees — although one that comes years after the layoffs and years after other corporations enacted similar practices.
Other Prominent Companies To Accept Remote Working
Airbnb is not alone in this; Zillow also cut off around a quarter of its workers during the pandemic, albeit this was due to an excess of properties purchased, not because its company is predicated on something people could no longer perform.
Additionally, it seems as if Airbnb is instituting some rather significant structure in other areas, even though its workers will have relatively little say about where they work. Chesky says that the firm would "work on a multi-year strategy with two significant product releases each year" to keep everyone on track.
Despite the winding route to get there, it seems as if Airbnb has arrived at a set of highly appealing regulations for existing and prospective workers. (They also fit the company's rental service's stay-or-work-anywhere feel.) Despite its tiny size, it has the potential to inspire other, bigger organizations to reassess their remote work policies – that is, if it is successful and its workers support its vision for the future of work.
Featured image: Airbnb
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