Airbnb’s Iain Roberts on Designing HR as a Strategic Service Function

Iain Roberts, Global Head of Employee Experience at Airbnb, discusses experimenting in HR in 2025, the design-thinking reshaping organizational structures, and why CEO Brian Chesky’s ‘Founder Mode’ is much misinterpreted. Iain covers innovative approach to flexible work, cross-functional alignment, and treating employee programs as evolving products requiring continuous refinement.*Email us your ‘Dear Heretics’ questions: [email protected]**For coaching and advising inquire at https://kellidragovich.com/HR Heretics is a podcast from Turpentine.—Support HR Heretics Sponsor: Metaview is the AI assistant for interviewing. Metaview completely removes the need for recruiters and hiring managers to take notes during interviews—because their AI is designed to take world-class interview notes for you. Team builders at companies like Brex, Hellofresh, and Quora say Metaview has changed the game—see the magic for yourself: https://www.metaview.ai/heretics—LINK/S:Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/—REFERENCE/S:NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang says that IT will ‘become the HR of AI agents’:https://fortune.com/2025/01/09/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huangt-take-over-hr-ai-agents/—KEEP UP WITH IAIN, NOLAN + KELLI ON LINKEDINIain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertsiain/Kelli: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellidragovich/Nolan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-church/—TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro (00:13) From Designer to HR Leader: Iain's Journey (01:15) "Everything Needs to Be Designed" Philosophy (03:09) Designing Systems of People and Structures (04:47) Bringing Design Thinking to HR at Airbnb (08:03) Airbnb's One Roadmap Approach: 7,000 People, One Focus (07:21) Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up Culture & Innovation(10:26) Tactically Transforming an HR Team with Design Thinking(11:47) Treating HR as Products and Services (13:14) The Future of HR Product Management (14:36) Sponsor: Metaview(16:30) Founder Mode: Misinterpretations and Brian Chesky's Approach(23:00) Airbnb's Shift to a Single Product Roadmap(26:54) Design-Led Culture and Attention to Detail at Airbnb(28:48) Prototyping & Iterating with Human Experiences: Challenges(30:50) Airbnb's Gathering Strategy and Flexible Work Philosophy(33:48) Airbnb's Contrarian Stance on Remote Work (Live & Work Anywhere)(39:45) Wrap This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hrheretics.substack.com