Abstract

This case is about the employee experience initiatives introduced at Airbnb that saw the company being ranked first in the list of ‘Best Place to Work’ in the US by Glassdoor in 2016. Mark Levy, the chief of Employee Experience, was credited with crafting the unique employee experience at Airbnb. The employee experience department at Airbnb strove to create an indelible experience for its employees through a gamut of initiatives ranging from the place where they worked, the kind of food the employees ate every day, to preserving the culture of the new company. The case describes the various initiatives taken by the company to bring together and forge the different emotional connections the employees created during working and in being part of the bigger Airbnb community. However, in 2017, the company slipped to the 35th position on Glassdoor’s list of ‘Best Places to Work’, as not all the employees were happy with the company. Beth Axelrod (Beth) who joined Airbnb as Vice President of Employee Experience in 2017, had the task of taking the employee experience initiative forward and addressing issues related to employee resentment that saw Airbnb’s steep drop in the ‘Best Places to Work’ list.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the employee experience initiatives undertaken by Airbnb.
• Discuss and debate whether Airbnb will be able to sustain the employee experience in the future.
• Explore future strategies that Airbnb can adopt to maintain its position as the best employer.

Keywords

Employee experience; Employee experience design loop; Recruitment; Interviewing; Unconsious biases; Onboarding; talent management; Internal communication; Motivation; Corporate culture; Employee engagement; Job satisfaction; Work environment; Career progression; Competitive advantage; Perks; Best Places to Work; Hospitality