Airbnb, the online marketplace for homestays, said it will allow its employees to work from anywhere permanently, in a bid to further improve flexibility.
The San Francisco-based company's move will enable employees to work from homes, offices or while travelling in different countries, chief executive Brian Chesky wrote in an email to staff.
He said the move was part of a wider transition to accommodate remote work.
“The world is becoming more flexible about where people can work. We see this in our own business,” Mr Chesky said.
“We wouldn't have recovered so quickly from the pandemic had it not been for millions of people working from Airbnbs.”
Working from home — or anywhere — is not new, but it exponentially grew during the Covid-19 pandemic when people were forced to stay indoors due to strict lockdowns.
Around 16 per cent of companies globally now have a fully-remote setup, while 44 per cent would not allow it, according to Owl Labs, which makes video conferencing devices.
The number of people who have been working from home has consistently surged in the past decade or so, by 44 per cent in the past five years, 91 per cent in the past decade and 159 per cent since 2009, Global Workplace Analytics data shows.
In the US alone, almost 60 per cent of the labour force are working from home as of 2022, it said.
Working from home has also brought its benefits into the mainstream. About three quarters say they are more productive when doing so due to fewer distractions, according to US companies CoSo Cloud, which provides software and services, and FlexJobs, a job site for remote working.
A better work-life balance is also the primary reason people opt to work remotely, Owl Labs said.
The number of major companies adapting the work from home or hybrid working model is also growing. These include Apple, Facebook owner Meta Platforms and Microsoft.
But not all are switching to a permanent one. Google, for instance, asked its staff to be back in the office this month or risk getting suspended or have their contract terminated.
Mr Chesky's communique said employees who work in areas that have a lower cost of living will not have any changes in their compensation.
Despite the sweeping rule, Airbnb will be hosting regular in-person meet-ups and retreats in a move to keep face-to-face communication alive.
Mr Chesky, who in January said he would live and work out of Airbnb's properties for several months, said the decision was made due to the scheme's popularity, which continues to be the case even after the crisis has subsided and restrictions have been either relaxed or removed altogether.
Airbnb in February said it closed its fiscal 2021 year with its “strongest” fourth quarter, in which it booked 73.4 million nights — a 59 per cent surge over 2020. For the full year, bookings jumped 56 per cent annually to almost 301 million.
The company's gross booking value rose 91 per cent to $11.3 billion in the fourth quarter. For the entirety of 2021, GBV was about $47bn, a 96 per cent year-on-year improvement.
Revenue in the fourth quarter increased 78 per cent to $1.5bn, while for 2021 it grew 77 per cent to $6bn.
Nearly half of nights booked on the platform between July and December last year were part of stays that were one month or longer, the company said. In the past year, around 175,000 people used Airbnb to book stays for three months or longer.
Airbnb said it has added more than 150 updates, including verified Wi-Fi connections, to support remote-work trends.
In February, Airbnb signed an agreement with Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism to promote the holiday home sector in the UAE capital.
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
TOURNAMENT INFO
Opening fixtures:
Friday, Oct 5
8pm: Kabul Zwanan v Paktia Panthers
Saturday, Oct 6
4pm: Nangarhar Leopards v Kandahar Knights
8pm: Kabul Zwanan v Balkh Legends
Tickets
Tickets can be bought online at https://www.q-tickets.com/apl/eventlist and at the ticket office at the stadium.
TV info
The tournament will be broadcast live in the UAE on OSN Sports.
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, second leg
Roma 4
Milner (15' OG), Dzeko (52'), Nainggolan (86', 90 4')
Liverpool 2
Mane (9'), Wijnaldum (25')
At Eternity’s Gate
Director: Julian Schnabel
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaacs, Mads Mikkelsen
Three stars
Jordan cabinet changes
In
- Raed Mozafar Abu Al Saoud, Minister of Water and Irrigation
- Dr Bassam Samir Al Talhouni, Minister of Justice
- Majd Mohamed Shoueikeh, State Minister of Development of Foundation Performance
- Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
- Falah Abdalla Al Ammoush, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Basma Moussa Ishakat, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Ghazi Monawar Al Zein, Minister of Health
- Ibrahim Sobhi Alshahahede, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Environment
- Dr Mohamed Suleiman Aburamman, Minister of Culture and Minister of Youth
Out
- Dr Adel Issa Al Tawissi, Minister of High Education and Scientific Research
- Hala Noaman “Basiso Lattouf”, Minister of Social Development
- Dr Mahmud Yassin Al Sheyab, Minister of Health
- Yahya Moussa Kasbi, Minister of Public Works and Housing
- Nayef Hamidi Al Fayez, Minister of Environment
- Majd Mohamed Shoueika, Minister of Public Sector Development
- Khalid Moussa Al Huneifat, Minister of Agriculture
- Dr Awad Abu Jarad Al Mushakiba, Minister of Justice
- Mounir Moussa Ouwais, Minister of Water and Agriculture
- Dr Azmi Mahmud Mohafaza, Minister of Education
- Mokarram Mustafa Al Kaysi, Minister of Youth
- Basma Mohamed Al Nousour, Minister of Culture
