'It doesn’t feel like work to respond': Airbnb CEO ditches email and texts staff instead. Why after-hours pings are adding to workers’ stress

Godwin OluponmileFri, October 16, 2026 at 9:00 PM UTC

0

59% of workers contacted daily after hours report constant stress. Here's how top CEOs communicate.

Brian Chesky, 45, the CEO of San Francisco-based home-sharing company Airbnb, [NASDAQ:ABNB] has pretty much given up on writing emails. He still answers the ones that land in his inbox, but when he needs something from his team, he picks up his phone and texts them instead.

“I don’t know if I write an email a week,” Chesky said in an interview with Time. Texts are a different story, he explained, because, “When you get a text message, it doesn’t feel like work to respond.”

Must Read -

Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake. Here’s what it is and 3 simple steps to fix it ASAP

A single line on your car insurance policy could be inflating your premium by up to 30% — here's what to change

Jeff Bezos backs a platform that lets anyone invest in rental homes for as little as $100 — 6 ways to build wealth like a landlord without actually being one

Among big-company CEOs who’ve talked publicly about how they communicate, he’s in the minority. Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, for example, still do a lot of their managing over email.

Most office workers couldn’t skip email if they tried, since Microsoft 365 users get 117 emails a day on average and give most of them less than a minute, according to a report published June by Microsoft.

Why Chesky ranks email last

Chesky told Time that if he had to rank how he likes to communicate, face-to-face conversations would come first, then Zoom, then texting, with email likely in last place. Emails start with a subject line, he pointed out, whereas a text goes straight to someone.

When something needs fixing, he’d rather sit down with the person, call them or fire off a text than open his inbox.

Read More: Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you keeping up or falling behind?

Which CEOs still run their companies by email?

Then there’s Huang, 63, CEO of chipmaker Nvidia [NASDAQ:NVDA], who works almost the opposite way. Nvidia staff have long emailed him short notes known inside the company as “Top-5 Things” — each a rundown of what they’re working on and noticing. He goes through those notes daily to catch early hints of where the business is heading, The Wall Street Journal reported in December, 2024.

Over at ride-hailing company Uber [NYSE:UBER], CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, 57, wants his staff to answer emails on weekends. On a Feb. 23 episode of The Diary of a CEO, he said anyone who doesn’t answer his Saturday email can expect a pointed follow-up from him on Sunday.

Advertisement

Late-night work is creeping up for everyone else, too. The number of meetings kicking off after 8 p.m. rose 16% in a year, according to Microsoft’s report, and a typical employee now trades more than 50 messages outside the 9-to-5.

In Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index survey of 31,000 knowledge workers across 31 markets, 48% of employees and 52% of leaders said their work feels “chaotic and fragmented.”

How to reach a boss who barely uses email

You can simply ask your manager (maybe during your next one-on-one) where they prefer to read work messages, whether that’s email, Slack, Teams, or even texts.

And for anything important, it helps to cover your bases. Any serious communication should be in writing. That would include things like a raise request, a change in your duties, or a deadline you want on record. But there’s no harm in sending a quick text to let your boss know it’s there. And if you need an answer within the hour, a call or a text is probably your best bet, since that’s how Chesky deals with his own urgent problems.

It also pays to find out what your boss expects after hours, because being reachable all the time can wear you down. In a June 2026 analysis, Eurofound, the Dublin-based EU agency that studies working conditions, found that stress at work climbs with how often people are contacted outside their hours. Among workers across the European Union who get contacted every day after hours, 59% say they feel stress at work always or almost always. That falls to 17% among those who are never contacted. The figures come from the agency’s 2024 European Working Conditions Survey.

Interestingly enough, managers are more likely than any other group of workers to get those after-hours messages, according to Eurofound.

Chesky, for his part, says he tries not to text people he believes are spending time with family, emergencies aside. If your boss has never said whether they follow a similar rule, it’s a fair question to bring up.

What To Read Next -

Robert Kiyosaki issued grim warning for baby boomers. Many could be ‘wiped out’ and homeless ‘all over’ the country. How to protect yourself now

Your Social Security ‘Trump Bump’ in 2027 will be one of the biggest in 25 years — but there’s a serious catch no one’s talking about

Dave Ramsey says this 1 indulgent purchase stops Americans from becoming wealthy. Here’s what he recommends instead

The tax breaks in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' expire after 2028. Here are 4 moves to make before the window closes

Get Warren Buffett's best investing lessons, free. Join 250,000 readers getting Moneywise’s sharpest money reporting every week. Subscribe and we’ll send you our guide to the ideas that built Buffett's fortune as a welcome gift.

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Money”