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Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

news.airbnb.com

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Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#81

Post by xtracto »

outcoldman wrote: post #64

I know some people are very excited about that, and some think that is going to be a new norm. I have not worked for the corps for at least 4-5 years, but before that I always assumed there are only small amount of people who can really work for company remotely. I definitely saw people calling that they are going to work from home, but saw very little work to be done that day. Which probably means that people used t…

>You are at new place, you going to work like 4-6 hours instead of 8-9 hours.

I remember some studies mentioning that the real productive time in a daily 8 hr shiFt was 4-6 hours. If that's so, then it's completely doable.

Hopefully someone has a fresh link to one of those studies.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#83

Post by formerkrogemp »

chrischen wrote: post #16

Have laws caught up for this new way to work yet? Last ai checked there are non-insignificant legal and tax issues for small businesses to have employees in other states.

Yep all of those sweet, sweet nexus events cramping would be remote employers' and e-commerce tycoons' style will keep tax professionals highly paid for years and years.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#84

Post by wolverine876 »

muglug wrote: post #6

If this becomes the norm then it's the end of SF as a tech hub. A big move for a company paying the sorts of salaries it does.

> it's the end of SF as a tech hub

People love to predict this, they seek it. Perhaps it feels like pushing against some establishment (when it's serving another establishment). It's trendy now, which affects people who follow trends, but trends change fast. Talented people want to be around other talented people; smart, intellectually curious people want to live where there are great restaurants, arts, beauty, sophisticated people, etc. I don't think that will change.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#85

Post by runako »

nell wrote: post #27
jitl wrote: post #8

> You can move anywhere in the country you work in and your compensation won’t change. Starting in June, we’ll have single pay tiers by country for both salary and equity. If your pay was set using a lower location-based pay tier, you’ll receive an increase in June. I wonder how this will change things for companies like Figma, which allow full remote, but pay remote workers less.

The reverse is also true. At the beginning Airbnb employees will be making SF level salaries. As Airbnb continues to hire and churn employees, average salaries will come down since they won't be paying SF salaries for new positions. They might pay better than other companies, but won't keep SF as baseline.

This might be a plausible outcome, except for two factors:

- Big Tech has been expanding out of CA for over a decade (e.g. Amazon HQ2, Microsoft Atlanta HQ, etc.)

- Tech compensation is highly weighted toward equity (RSUs/etc.).

Taken together, these mean that more regions have at least one big tech player that's paying significantly in equity. This means that even if the salary portion of compensation is reduced for employees living outside SF, their overall compensation will likely still be very competitive.

At the same time, regional markets are heating up as non-tech companies increasingly are staffing up with the same React & Swift programmers needed in SF. Why leave family & move to SF for $180k base when you can make $150k base in Atlanta or Raleigh, where the cost of living is a fraction of SF?

(Given recent actions in the public markets, it's also worth nothing that equity-based compensation frequently is topped up to some extent when stock values remain depressed. It's been a number of years since this broadly happened, but we can generally expect the $100B+ club (at least) to issue meaningful retention grants if stocks stay down while the labor market remains tight.)

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#86

Post by tdfx »

jraby3 wrote: post #57
tdfx wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's actually pretty economical to have a second home in Latin America, with copies of all your creature comforts there. Kids get multicultural friends, new language, and much wider perspective on the world.

What about school? It’s nice for summer break but it’s really hard to take kids out of school or to switch schools mid year.

When the kids are younger, they don't really need to stick with a specific curriculum throughout the year. As they get older, I imagine the need to dictate your schedule around school increases. And if they're at a boarding school, that really frees up your planning.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#87

Post by dinvlad »

carlivar wrote: post #71

I like that he specifically mentioned open floor plans. This is the number one reason why I don't want to return to the office. I kinda do want to go back. But I need my privacy and some quiet. I can't do the open floor plan ever again.

Can't agree more. Privacy of a small room but having people around when you _need_ them is the best of both worlds.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#88

Post by chrischen »

aaomidi wrote: post #39
pc86 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The short answer is no, they haven't. Payroll for something like this is a huge pain in the ass if you're not at this kind of scale. You end up just hiring people as contractors, which has its own set of problems (namely the fact that you can't just do that because it's easier, they have to actually be contractors and not employees).

Or you literally just use a PEO and let them handle it for you. It's not that hard.

I actually use a PEO, but there are still random things to take care of for random states so it doesn’t solve everything.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#89

Post by throwanem »

abledon wrote: post #79
carlivar wrote: post #71

I like that he specifically mentioned open floor plans. This is the number one reason why I don't want to return to the office. I kinda do want to go back. But I need my privacy and some quiet. I can't do the open floor plan ever again.

you don't like doing PDD? Panopticon-driven-development?

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If so, you should be flattered indeed, because I'm stealing the hell out of this.

Re: Airbnb’s design to live and work anywhere

#90

Post by chrischen »

gbear605 wrote: post #28
chrischen wrote: post #16

Have laws caught up for this new way to work yet? Last ai checked there are non-insignificant legal and tax issues for small businesses to have employees in other states.

Judging by my employer, small businesses are able to have their payroll companies take care of all that hassle without much cost, so it’s not really a problem.

I am the employer, and it is a problem even after using a PEO. Plus, having an employee somewhere creates a nexus which is another whole set of problems.
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