Airbnb CEO explains why his company has a one week a month hybrid work policy
Photo from Airbnb
Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky says that his employees can work from anywhere, as long as they come to the office one week per month.
Chesky explained his views and remote work policy on a recent episode of the Rapid Response podcast.
Value
Chesky said “I think there’s a huge value to people being in the office sometimes. I have not found a huge value in people being in the office all the time. So, let’s say you’re a global company. I want everyone to be together, but everyone lives in different cities, right? So unless all of your employees live within a 30-minute commuting radius, you either have to limit your hiring to a very narrow talent pool, or you’re hiring all over the world, and you have all these offices, and you’re telling people to go into an office.”
He continued to explain that he requires employees to come to Airbnb’s headquarters in San Francisco one week a month. They may be there 2-3 days, or for the whole week. He views these as “gathering weeks” where everyone comes together for collaboration. Many employees already live in the area, but those who don’t are flown in. Chesky noted that this affordability stemmed from the savings gained by not requiring extensive office space.
Performance and Flexibility
Discussing performance he said, “We have really rigorous milestones. We have really rigorous performance management. If you want a team to work harder, don’t make them come to the office, give them a crazy deadline and check on their progress every week. That’s how you get them to work harder, not by being in the office. I don’t care where you are.”
Expanding on Airbnb’s work flexibility Chesky stated, “This allows us to not make a trade-off regarding where employees are, and I think the one week we’re in the office is superior to other companies where people are in different offices, right? All of our leaders are in the same office. They’re not in different offices.”
Airbnb is a publicly traded company listed on the NASDAQ. It has about 7,000 employees. In 2022, the company announced it’s Live and Work Anywhere policy. This allows employees to live and work remotely from anywhere in the country, work at home or in the office, or travel the world.
