Hybrid Way of Working at Booking.com

From surviving to thriving

Our Hybrid Way of Working Pilot

At Booking.com, we believe in experimentation and collaborative problem solving. Finding the best ways of working for our own people is no exception.

Work and collaborate

There is no one-size-fits-all approach for how teams and individuals work and collaborate. And when it comes to where our team members work in order to be productive and effective (from the office or at home), we trust that they know best.

We have decided that instead of specifying what percentage of their time they need to spend in the office each week, we are partnering with an external expert team at NeuroPower to run a hybrid work pilot and are dedicating the year 2022 to learning together as an organization.

What support and benefits are being offered to Booking.com employees?

IT Equipment

We support employees with the set-up of their home office - from ergonomic furniture to all the necessary IT equipment

Work From Home

We provide a working from home allowance, paid monthly

Educational Tools

We provide a variety of educational tools and support materials to support our employees’ wellbeing and help them establish and maintain a healthy work-life balance

What does a hybrid way of working mean at Booking.com in 2022?

We’re natural experimenters, and understand that we all thrive in different working environments. That’s why we’ve taken the approach to understand our employees’ feedback as well as our business needs to offer a flexible approach for our teams. Our Hybrid Way of Working pilot offers a flexible approach for employees to work from home, while encouraging them to use our office space as an important place to come together, innovate and collaborate face-to-face.

We also currently offer a Working from Abroad solution. Our guidelines allow for 20 days working from their home country and any country where our employees have the right to work (i.e. EU citizens have the right to work from anywhere within the EU for these 20 days). The limitations are needed due to Tax and security risks. We’re exploring opportunities for improvement throughout 2022.

We’re taking the year 2022 as a learning opportunity to refine and test our approach. Our guidelines may change in the future, but we know that flexibility for our employees will remain key.

The Office

What is the process for coming to a Booking.com office?

How often you come to the office or work from home it’s currently a manager and team decision and may differ by team. During the hybrid working pilot, there is no company-wide requirement on how many days one should spend in the office.

Evolve

How are we adjusting our offices to be ready for flexible work?

As we evolve how we work, the Booking.com office will evolve as well – we aim to create a great place to work and connect. In all of our offices, health and safety remains a priority and in some of our offices we currently still have safety measures due to COVID government restrictions. We continue to adapt our offices to better fit and support our employees in a hybrid way of working.

Our journey ahead

We’re going to be in a stage of experimentation, learning together, and adjusting for a while, and may need to adapt our approach. For now, we’re giving our employees and our managers the time to understand how the hybrid way of working will work best for them.

Virtual onboarding

We’ve continued to hire new colleagues throughout the pandemic but have found an innovative way to onboard them while most offices around the world remain closed. We’ve developed a virtual onboarding process that consists of a virtual onboarding group, online learnings and virtual meetings with your new team. Our dedicated team of onboarding and IT experts will ensure everything is set up properly, so you can focus on what you do best.

Virtual interview

For most of our offices around the world, interviews take place online. After you’ve applied for a position, one of our recruiters will take your application into consideration and examine if you fit the role. If there’s a match, we’ll send you an invite to join a video interview where we’ll better get to know each other and learn more about your career goals. Don’t worry, when the time comes, we’ll provide you with detailed instructions on how to set up your online interview.

Working together

You’ll be virtually meeting, chatting and working together with diverse colleagues from all over the world. Building new friendships becomes a whole new experience as we will provide you with access to some of the world’s most innovative tools for online communication. Whether you’re having a virtual coffee with your manager or presenting your work to teams in Amsterdam, Tel Aviv, New York or Singapore, you’ll easily become a part of the Booking.com family.

Relocating

The world has seen some tremendous changes this year, but we’ll continue to relocate our new colleagues to their new homes. If you’ve accepted an offer with a relocation package, our dedicated team of experts will help you move and find your way around the city. Our offices are located in some of the world’s most vibrant welcoming and diverse tech hubs and we’ll do our utmost best to make you feel at home, as quickly as possible.

Frequently asked questions

How often can you work from home and how often must you be in the office?

When you come to the office do you have to stay the whole day?

No, partial days can be spent in the office (e.g. coming in for a half day working session).

When you aren't in the office, are there any core hours you have to be online?

Based on our employee handbook, core working hours are during the times between 10am and 4 pm. Exceptions can be discussed with the manager and HR depending on individual needs.

Can I work 100% WFH?

At Booking.com, our offices are a special part of our DNA. Face to face connection and collaboration play an important role in our culture. While Booking.com has a flexible hybrid approach we want to encourage you to come to the office where it works best for you and the team and therefore we leave it to teams to outline how often this is.

Can I work from anywhere within my home country or home state (US)?

A colleagues’ place of work will continue to be their assigned Booking.com office, unless otherwise agreed. Additionally, colleagues’ main work from home location must be within a commuting distance of their assigned Booking.com office.