This thread seems like as good a place as any for this:
Quote:
‘The Office As We Know It Is Over,’ Says Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky recently announced that the company’s employees will be able to work from anywhere, including (for up to three months) overseas. He also abolished location -based pay, at least within the U.S. In the days following the announcement, Airbnb’s recruiting page received a million visitors. The company, which laid off a quarter of its staff during the pandemic, also released first quarter earnings that closely matched pre-pandemic levels.
...
I think that the office as we know it, is over. It’s kind of like an anachronistic form. It’s from a pre-digital age. If the office didn’t exist, I like to ask, would we invent it? And if we invented it, what would it be invented for? Obviously, people are going to still go to hospitals and work, people are going to still go to coffee shops and work—those spaces make complete sense. But I think that for somebody whose job is on a laptop, the question is, well, what is an office meant to do?
|
https://time.com/6174653/airbnb-ceo-...sky-interview/
"If X didn't exist, would we invent it?" is a great question to ask in general.
I believe the problem isn't so much the office, but the absolutely insane and wasteful practice of commuting. It may be that the whole idea of human beings living in one place and working in a completely different place, traveling between them every day, ends up a short-lived practice that began in the late 19th century and ends in the early 21st century. Historians will see it as something that was done during a specific period when technology had advanced to the point that people could physically travel dozens of miles each day (trains, cars) but not yet to the point where this became unnecessary (telepresence, virtual reality, holograms).
Prev
Linear Mode
