Employees can ‘live and work anywhere, says ARBNB CEO
Home-sharing platform Airbnb has announced that other companies plan to allow their employees to stay and work where they want to look beyond coronavirus epidemics and bring employees back to work.
The company’s CEO and co-founder, Brian Chesky, revealed the move on Twitter on Thursday, saying compensation would not change if employees decided to move.
“We have the flexibility to live and work 90 days a year in 170 countries everywhere,” he said without elaborating on which country he would not be able to work from or the reason for the 90-day cap.
In a separate email to employees, Chesky said employees would need a permanent address for tax and salary purposes.
“Most companies don’t do this because of the complexity of tax, pay and time zone availability, but I hope we can find an open-source solution so that other companies can offer that flexibility as well,” he said in an email. .
Airbnb employees will be personally responsible for obtaining “proper work authorization,” Chesky said, adding that the San Francisco-headquartered company is partnering with local governments to facilitate this.
“Today, 20+ countries offer remote work visas and many more are at work,” he said.
It is possible that the move is designed to motivate other companies to introduce similar remote-working policies that could potentially benefit Airbnb. Airbnb did not immediately respond to a request for comment by CNBC.
When other companies try to persuade employees to return to the office, this decision is sometimes made with allowances such as social events and free meals. However, not everyone is convinced and some workers are giving up joining companies with more flexible remote-working policies.
Chesky noted that most of his staff would meet in person for one week at a time each quarter, adding that some would do this more frequently and that Zoomla had its limitations.
“The most meaningful connections happen in person,” Chesky said. “Zoom is great for maintaining a relationship, but it’s not the best way to make it stronger. And some creative work is perfectly done in one room. ”
He went on to say that operating remotely was the most productive two-year period in Airbnb’s history.
“Two decades ago, Silicon Valley start-ups popularized open floor plans and on-site benefits,” he said. “Today’s startups have embraced flexibility and remote work. I think in 10 years from now, the way companies operate will be stronger. “
Chesky suggested that companies would have a “significant disadvantage” if they “limited their talent pool to the radius of travel around their offices” because the best people live everywhere.
