After two years of working remotely throughout the pandemic, many companies have begun requiring employees to return to the workplace. However, a considerable amount of those workers have expressed unhappiness about the move.
According to a recent report from Apollo Technical, an information technology and engineering agency, 72% of employees prefer a hybrid remote-office model, working at home at least part of the time. A study by the WFH Research Project determined that people in fields such as tech and finance value that kind of flexibility as much as a 10% pay raise.
At least one major company has taken note. Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb recently sent an email to the vacation-rental firm’s employees. He announced the company’s decision to let employees live and work anywhere they like.
“Two years ago, the world was turned upside down,” Chesky explained in the memo. “Our offices closed and we found ourselves working from our bedrooms, basements and home offices. Despite everything, we had the most productive two-year period in our history.”
He went on to announce the decision to allow Airbnb employees to work anywhere they want inside the U.S. and, with a few caveats, internationally. He also announced the news on Twitter.
Today, we’re announcing that Airbnb employees can live and work anywhere.
Our design for working at Airbnb has 5 key features:
— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) April 29, 2022
Chesky went on to explain what he described as the “key features” of working for Airbnb:
- Employees can work from home or the office, deciding what works best for them.
- They can move anywhere in the country and their compensation won’t change.
- They can live and work in 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location.
- They will meet regularly for team gatherings, typically at least once a quarter for about a week at a time.
Not only has the response from employees been overwhelmingly positive, apparently, but other job seekers have also taken notice. According to a transcript of the company’s first-quarter 2022 earnings call, its career page was visited 800,000 times after that announcement.
It’s unclear how many people typically visit that page but the company currently employs more than 5,000 people worldwide.
“I’ve always believed that you design the culture you want, or it will be designed for you,” Chesky wrote in his email to employees. I’m excited about this new design and giving you the flexibility to live and work anywhere. I think it will unlock some amazing creativity and innovation—and make working here really fun.”
The company has physical offices in San Francisco, where it’s headquartered, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Dublin, London, Paris, Singapore and other cities around the world.
As of publication time, the company’s jobs page had more than 200 positions listed, including roles in communications, design, legal, marketing, sales and other departments. The greatest need seems to be in engineering, where nearly 50 jobs were open when we checked.
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