Ep 70: How Airbnb Creates Amazing Employee Experiences

The Future Of Work With Jacob Morgan

Today’s Future of Work Podcast is a very exciting topic! My guest is Mark Levy, the Global Head of Employee Experience at Airbnb. Airbnb has been making headlines lately, as they shifted their focus from a Human Resources Department to Employee Experience. Airbnb has core values that really put their employees first, and want them to feel like they belong with the company. During today’s podcast, I sit down at their main campus, and you can feel the energy of their open floor and hear new programs being implemented as the podcast is recording.

Airbnb is an alternative accommodation site that connects hosts and guests all over the world. Mark has spent over 20 years in Human Resources roles spanning his career. When Mark joined Airbnb, the Human Resources functions were split into multiple groups, which included talent, recruiting, and a group called “ground control” which was responsible for the workplace culture. Talk of bringing the departments together occurred, and Mark questioned, if Airbnb had a Customer Experience Group, why not create an Employee Experience Group? The Employee Experience was then created with new specializations, such as comp and benefits, facilities, and a food program. Mark discusses Airbnb’s strategy for 2016, and how they plan on growing the company and their employee experience programs.

What you will learn in this episode

Is Employee Experience The Same As HR?

Should All Organizations Have A Person In Charge Of Employee Experiences?

What Does Airbnb Do To Create Employee Experiences?

Why Is Employee Experience So Important?

What Is It Like To Work At Airbnb?

How Employee Experience Can Be Utilized In All Companies

The Freedom In A Framework Structure

Scaling Experiences

Advice For Creating New Experiences In Any Workplace

Links from the episode

Airbnb.com

Mark Levy on LinkedIn

(Music by Ronald Jenkees)