Catherwood LibraryILR School

Airbnb laid-off thousands of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic to cut the company’s costs after a significant decline in revenue. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky stated that it was incredibly difficult to cut 1,900 workers, and wanted to help affected employees find new job opportunities. He created an Airbnb employee alumni directory, which was a directory, and laid-off employees could submit their contact information to the directory. Recruiters could use the directory to reach out to these employees about open positions, and many laid-off workers were able to find new jobs. Brian Chesky said that he personally reached out to other CEOs to see if they had openings and could rehire these affected employees. In addition to the alumni directory, Airbnb let workers keep their company laptops, and the company provided generous severance packages, which provided workers with fourteen weeks of base pay, a year of health insurance, and four months of mental health services.