Airbnb is letting employees work remotely until at least the end of August 2021, the company said on Wednesday.
It's the longest work from the home period of any of the major tech players, besting Facebook's July 2021 policy by a month, as the coronavirus pandemic persists in the United States.
Moreover, Airbnb is offering employees a $500 stipend to their normal paychecks. The stipend is intended for "home office equipment" and "ergonomic equipment." And that's on top of the quarterly $500 credit Airbnb gives employees for use on the site itself.
"While we don't know when the pandemic will end, we want to provide our employees with flexibility and choice to make decisions about the next year," the company said in the blog post. "We are offering this remote working extension to give employees the ability to plan further ahead and make the choices they need around school calendars, being closer to family, caring for vulnerable family members, and other personal decisions."
The move also comes amid a confidentially filed IPO the latest development in Airbnb's plans to go public this year.
As the coronavirus pandemic ended to travel for millions, Airbnb pivoted business away from experience-centric vacations. The company enacted new health and safety requirements for hosts and offered an "extenuating circumstance" policy to the service's users that allowed them to cancel rentals due to pandemic-related concerns.
It also laid off a substantial portion of its staff: About 25% of Airbnb employees were cut in May.
In July, after travel restrictions and shelter-in-place orders began lifting, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said the company's business bounced back. "We were down, but we're not out," Chesky said in an email to employees shared with Business Insider. "We're not committing to going public this year, but we're not ruling it out. When the market is ready, we will be ready."