Gallery: Airbnb Invents a Call Center That Isn't Hell to Work At

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    Jeremy Bittermann
    01

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--6

    Airbnb is opening its first standalone customer experience center in the United States in Portland, Oregon (they have one in Dublin, Ireland).
  • Image may contain Human Person Wood Plywood Furniture Chair Office Indoors Restaurant and Cafe
    Jeremy Bittermann
    02

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--12

    Rather than design a typical call center—Rows and rows of gray cubicles, everyone donning headsets, sitting at their beige desks for hours on end—Airbnb's internal design team created an office based on behavioral research.
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    Jeremy Bittermann
    03

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--13

    Aaron Harvey and Rachael Yu spent a month observing the CX team in their temporary work space, holding group brainstorms, and conducting one-on-one interviews.
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    Jeremy Bittermann
    04

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--21

    They noticed behavior ticks, like how CX staffers tend to work in fluid pairs to solve difficult problems.
  • Image may contain Flooring Human Person Wood Floor Plywood Footwear Clothing Shoe Apparel Hardwood and Sitting
    Jeremy Bittermann
    05

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--18

    The result is an office that uses landing desks, so each employee has a spot to gravitate towards, and a variety of seats and nooks, for easy mobility.
  • Image may contain Human Person Sitting Furniture Couch Footwear Clothing Shoe Apparel Room and Living Room
    Jeremy Bittermann
    06

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--19

    Even for adults, landing desks help ward off a feeling of walking into a high school cafeteria.
  • Image may contain Wood Human Person Flooring Plywood Hardwood Indoors Interior Design Floor Lighting and Pc
    Jeremy Bittermann
    07

    Airbnb-PDXoffice-Bittermann-12-10-2104--22

    Rather than hire a third party designer, a team of 50 CXers designed their own conference room. This room, the SS Clementine, is one of them.
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