"Three Months of Remote Work Abroad" Airbnb's Bold Choice [Jjinbit]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] One of the current dreams of office workers is to live in Jeju for a month or live abroad for a month, isn’t it? On the 28th (local time), the global accommodation sharing company Airbnb declared that its employees can work from anywhere in the world. Except for some essential personnel, employees can freely choose their workplace, and there will be no salary cuts based on the work location. This is not a temporary measure; they said they will continue to maintain this policy going forward.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others, Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, stated in new work guidelines sent to employees the day before that "from this September, employees can work up to 90 days a year in more than 170 countries." With this policy from Airbnb, it has become possible to live in a desired location for three months. While offices worldwide are returning to in-person work, Airbnb has introduced a bold move to offer the flexibility of work locations experienced during COVID-19.

Why did Airbnb introduce such a bold policy? Airbnb was one of the companies hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The travel industry suffered due to various lockdown measures in the early stages of COVID-19. However, Airbnb’s revenue last year exceeded that of 2019, before the pandemic. Large hotel chains like Marriott International and Hilton Holdings still have relatively low revenues, but Airbnb is expected to record its largest-ever performance in the first quarter of this year.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Looking into the background, about half of the bookings made on Airbnb from July to December last year were for stays longer than a month. There were also 175,000 long-term guests staying for more than three months last year alone. This means many office workers used Airbnb to leave their homes and work elsewhere. The so-called 'workation,' a combination of work and vacation, saw explosive demand.

CEO Chesky said, "If it weren’t for the millions of people working on Airbnb, we wouldn’t have recovered quickly from the COVID-19 crisis," adding, "The world is becoming more diverse in terms of work locations, and we view our business from this perspective." He emphasized that work flexibility is effective when team members trust each other and said that this has been demonstrated through remote work over the past two years. However, he added that regular face-to-face meetings will be held for collaboration, likely about one week per quarter.

Airbnb also announced plans to build infrastructure to secure workation demand. Of the 6 million accommodations worldwide, about 90% are already prepared for long-term stays, and basic features such as Wi-Fi will be provided. They also plan to cooperate with governments worldwide to make it easier for office workers who want remote work to choose Airbnb. For employees, they plan to expand the issuance of remote work visas, which are currently available in about 20 countries.

We look forward to seeing whether Airbnb, which discovered new opportunities in COVID-19, can establish a foundation for flexible work styles and secure profits.

Editor's Note[Jjinbit] is short for 'Jeong Hyunjin’s Business Trend' and 'Real Business Trend,' a corner that shows trends in corporate management such as organizational culture and personnel systems. Based on analyses from foreign media and major overseas institutions that have not received much attention so far, we will deliver fresh and differentiated information and perspectives.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.