Airbnb employees can work remotely forever without pay cut

Airbnb has announced a new ‘work-from-anywhere’ policy that allows employees to work from 170 countries, forever.

Home-sharing platform Airbnb is offering employees the opportunity of working remotely anywhere in the world without having to undergo a pay cut.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced the new corporate policy in a series of tweets on Friday.

“You can move anywhere in the country, like from San Francisco to Nashville, and your compensation won’t change,” Mr Chesky said.

Employees also have the flexibility to “live and work in 170 countries for up to 90 days a year in each location.”

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced the new flexible working policy this week. Picture: Supplied.

The company’s co-founder said employees will still meet up regularly for team gatherings and some will “connect in person every quarter for about a week at a time.”

“To pull this off, we’ll operate off a multi-year road map with two major product releases a year, which will keep us working in a highly co-ordinated way,” he said.

Mr Chesky said the company switched to the new model as “the world was becoming more flexible” and the business wouldn’t have recovered from the pandemic if not for “millions of people working from Airbnbs”.

“We also had the most productive two-year period in our company’s history — all while working remotely,” he tweeted.

Airbnb employees are allowed to work in 170 countries. Picture: Lionel Bonaventure.

“Companies will be at a significant disadvantage if they limit their talent pool to a commuting radius around their offices. The best people live everywhere.”

Airbnb is moving forward with the policy as Mr Chesky believes flexible working ‘will become the predominant way companies work 19 years from now.”

“Two decades ago, Silicon Valley start-ups popularised open floor plans and on-site perks. Today’s start-ups have embraced flexibility and remote work.”

The move comes after Mr Chesky announced back in January he’ll be staying in a different town or city every two weeks after “100,000 Airbnb guests booked stays of three months or longer.”

Brian Chesky, chief executive officer and co-founder of Airbnb said employees will still connect in person every quarter. Picture: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

While he plans for his home to “be an Airbnb somewhere”, Mr Chesky will regularly return to San Francisco, where the multibillion-dollar business is based.

“Why am I doing this? I think the pandemic has created the biggest change to travel since the advent of commercial flying,” he tweeted.

“In 2022, I think the biggest trend in travel will be people spreading out to thousands of towns and cities, staying for weeks, months, or even entire seasons at a time.”

Originally published as Airbnb employees can work remotely forever without pay cut