Assignment
Article: Airbnb's Remote-Work Makeover Is Really About Competing for Talent By Austin Carr.
Thousands of Airbnb Inc. employees will start the week with the option they will now have to consider every single day: Go into the office or work from home? Last Thursday, Airbnb said most staff will be able to work remotely for good, reversing its earlier guidance that workers would need to be back at the office by September. It appears the gravitational pull of the work-from-home lifestyle was too hard to resist.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic has become more manageable, businesses have been grappling with how (or whether) to revert to the old way of doing things. Some employers have pushed for a faster return to the office, while others are hoping hybrid work will appeal to those who have grown accustomed to typing in their pajamas. But Airbnb Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky believes there's no going back - and that all companies will inevitably follow suit. "I think this will become the predominant way companies work 10 years from now," he tweeted last week.
It marks a dramatic change from how the tech world used to think about the workplace. Startup founders, especially, saw the old-school office as an environment to disrupt. Airy open spaces with stocked fridges and playground perks replaced depressing cubicles. They talked up the serendipitous collaboration that can come from bumping into a coworker at the kombucha tap. A decade ago at Airbnb's old offices, I remember Chesky taking me around to meeting rooms modeled after Airbnb listings, which he said influenced their culture and design ethos.
With attendance now voluntary, were offices ever really breeding grounds of corporate values? Airbnb believes it can capture the same je ne sais quoi from occasional team off-sites and social events. Perhaps it's not surprising that a travel company would want its workers, well, traveling, particularly given that remote work has become a driver for the business. Why maintain conference room replicas at the office when employees can act as real hosts at their own home or as guests while working at other people's apartments? It's a way to encourage Airbnb employees to test the service they're building.
So far, there has been a mess of approaches to work in the post-lockdown era, even among companies whose devices and services foster remote productivity. Apple Inc., which takes pride in its culture of secrecy, is trying to figure out whether hush-hush development is feasible with decentralized employees. Microsoft Corp. is opting for a hybrid strategy, yet schedules with more than 50% remote time must be approved by managers. Salesforce Inc.'s Slack, meanwhile, is taking a "digital-first approach" and wants its executives to spend fewer than three days a week in the office - not the other way around.
Ultimately, whether one of these strategies takes off may come down to a huge source of competition among tech giants: talent. The idea of commuting long hours, of not having access to the creature comforts of home, of not being able to live too far from a select set of massive (and expensive) cities - it's all increasingly getting in the way of recruiting and retention. Stripe Inc. recently offered staff an option to leave New York and San Francisco - so long as they take a pay cut. Airbnb made a point of saying moving to another part of the country won't affect compensation. If you're a Stripe employee who wants to live in Nashville, Tennessee, you might suddenly be willing to trade your obsession with reinventing finance for improving home rentals.
"Companies will be at a significant disadvantage if they limit their talent pool to a commuting radius around their offices," Chesky said. "The best people live everywhere."
Task
I. Based on this article and your own HRM (Human Resource Management) knowledge, discuss in detail how Airbnb could benefit from this change in HR (Human Resource) strategy.
II. i. Explain three challenges for HR Managers which need to be considered when employees are working from home?
ii. Provide three examples of how Airbnb could use technology in their recruitment and selection process.
III. To improve its revenue, Airbnb plans to hire a Senior Marketing Manager:
i. Discuss the benefits of recruiting for this position externally.
ii. Discuss the benefits of recruiting for this position internally.
IV. i. Explain in detail three possible reasons why an Airbnb employee may be underperforming at work.
ii. Airbnb is a global company employing people from all backgrounds. Describe in detail three challenges you could encounter as the Human Resource Manager of a diverse workforce.
V. Discuss the importance of human resource planning for organizations like Airbnb. In your answer, describe at least three challenges and three benefits of human resource planning.