On May 9, Beijing time, Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of airbnb, a home stay platform, said on Sunday that the era of working in the office has now become a thing of the past. In an interview, he said he thought the office was "an outdated form" and "a product of the pre digital era".
His comments followed an announcement earlier this week by Abby Ying that employees would be allowed to work permanently remotely without a pay cut, on the grounds that it would expand their talent pool, noting that the company had experienced two years of highest productivity in its history during remote work.
"I think the office we know is over," he said, "We can't stick to 2019 as we did in 1950. We have to move forward. If the office doesn't exist, I want to ask, will we invent it? If we invent it, what's the purpose of inventing it? Obviously, people will still go to the hospital and people will still go to the coffee shop - these spaces make perfect sense. But I think for those who work on laptops, the problem is that the office should Do what? "