Airbnb Supports Remote Work Option ‘For Good’

Photo source: Airbnb

“Live and work anywhere” is home-sharing giant Airbnb’s new philosophy giving thousands of employees the option to full-time remote work plus perks. The news comes as most of the companies in the world struggle to bring back staff as the Covid-19 pandemic subsides.

“You have the flexibility to live and work in 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location,” said Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky announcing the news via his twitter account on Thursday.

Chesky added that staff compensation won’t change for those opting to go remote. Airbnb sees the move as natural after Covid-19 forced the business world to work from home. The idea now is to adapt to the new normal.

The new policy which applies to its 15,000-strong staff as outlined by Chesky focuses on five main points:

-you can work from home or the office

-you can move anywhere in the country you work in and your compensation won’t change

-you have the flexibility to travel and work around the world

-we’ll meet up regularly for gatherings

-we’ll continue to work in a highly coordinated way.

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

Employees choosing to go remote will still need a permanent address for tax and payroll purposes, said Chesky in a separate email sent to staff this week.

“Most companies don’t do this because of the mountain of complexities with taxes, payroll, and time zone availability, but I hope we can open-source a solution so other companies can offer this flexibility as well,” he said in the email.

With regard to meetings, Chesky said “the right solution should combine the efficiency of Zoom with the meaningful human connection that happens when people come together. Our design attempts to combine the best of both worlds”.

“Today, 20+ countries offer remote work visas, and more are in the works,” he said.

In the last few years, Greece has been taking actions to attract digital nomads and remote workers. In March, the tourism ministry inked an agreement with digital payments company Visa in efforts to attract Visa executives to Greece where they will work remotely as part of the ministry’s ongoing digital nomads initiative. 

At the same time, an HSBC survey found that Greece scored high for “wellbeing” as a strong incentive for digital nomads to move to there however, Greece still has a long way to go before it establishes itself into a remote working destination, according to the conclusions of the 1st Digital Mobilities Conference organized by the Digital Nomads Observatory.