Airbnb employees can now work remotely until the end of August 21 next year. The Company’s decision comes at a time when the pandemic is still at large in the US. The extension has been the longest one yet among any of the major tech companies. Facebook employees have only been given an extension till July 2021, while Google employees will be working remotely through June.
In addition to the extension, employees at Airbnb have been offered a $300 stipend to purchase whatever home-office equipment they may require, to set up their workspace. Airbnb has further offered an additional $200 for ergonomic equipment that the employees may require. This total of $500 is over and above the quarterly $500 credit that employees receive from the Company to use on the site itself.
In a blog post, the Company shared that the decision to extend the work-from- home policy was taken to allow provide employees enough time spend quality time with their families; to plan ahead, taking into account school calendars of their children, and care for the elderly and vulnerable members of their families.
Airbnb also filed for IPO as a part of its earlier plans to go public this year, which may be deferred in light of the circumstances.
The pandemic had hit the organisation hard, following which it had to let go of 25 per cent of its staff in May this year, to lessen the financial pressure. It had to come up with new health and safety requirements for hosts and arrange for a policy that allowed users to cancel their rentals due to safety concerns.
