How does the Airbnb incentive system work?
On Tuesday we had another mastermind session with a speaker from Airbnb’s cybersecurity department. Participants asked her questions about the principles of the company, the organization of work processes, and the system of employee motivation. We share a few of her answers:
Before the pandemic, I thought we all had the same level of motivation because the whole company culture is built on making employees feel comfortable working and everyone has everything they can do to make the best of what they can. We’re constantly told, “Anything you need to work, we’ll give it to you. Just say the word.”
But during the pandemic, many people “broke down.” And it was interesting to watch how the company came out of that situation. How they worked with employees to get them all into a state where they were comfortable. I think they did more than they could, and because of that, we slowly got back on track.
Have you ever had a situation where your motivation was dropping and the leader noticed it? What did he do?
Our managers keep an eye on engagement. They immediately notice if something is going wrong. I have a very close relationship with my manager. At Airbnb, managers and employees have different roles. We have ICs (individual contributors), people who do certain tasks and run projects. And there are managers who are focused entirely on working with people. They don’t perform any operational tasks, but are mostly involved in hiring and communicating with employees. For example, my manager knows me very well. When I’m not in the mood or motivated, she notices it right away and asks, “What’s going on? I’ve noticed that you’re not doing well on the project. How can I help you?” And I’m already sharing my problems, whether it’s personal, domestic problems, or such and such blocks in my work. And she in turn finds ways to help me. It gives me motivation. I think that is one of the strengths of Airbnb.
How often do you have team meetings, like All Hands Meetings or Happy Hour?
With the CEO – every two weeks. Any employee can ask him any question. He is constantly being asked very difficult questions, and he always answers them on the spot. And every three months we have a World Work Meeting, where everyone in the company is told about the company’s strategy and its next steps.
Each individual department has a meeting every three weeks. At these meetings, we spend the first half an hour discussing work, and the second half an hour playing games or showing presentations. In general, this is done to increase engagement and team spirit.
Is it possible that an employee in a company doesn’t want to grow and develop, but is fulfilling his daily duties well? What is done with such employees?
At the end of each year we write feedback, give feedback to each other. We rate the person on this scale:
1 – doesn’t fit the role he or she was hired for
2 – almost does what is expected of him
3 – does everything that is expected of him
4 – does more than is expected of him
5 – does much more than expected
If a person is rated all of 4 and 5, he or she will have a promotion. If 1 – the manager will very often work with that person to pull them up to a 3.
What kind of equity package the employee gets depends on these grades.
Each year employees are given a share package for their work at the company. If you’re a 1, you get nothing. If you’re a 4 or 5, they give you a lot of stock. And it depends on the person whether he wants a share package or not. Sometimes it even happens that the share package is bigger than the salary.
That’s why we don’t just want to do a project and forget about it. We are financially motivated to do the project as well as possible, to be rated 4 and 5. It’s stupid to work and not get a 3-5. Why would you want to work at Airbnb then? Go where you feel good.
