Remote Work Is Here to Stay

https://www.city-journal.org/article/remote-work-is-here-to-stay

by RickJWagner • 2 years ago

35 22 2 years ago

zachmu4• 2 years ago

All well and good, but consider: if you work for Google in Pittsburgh you make approximately 60% of what you make doing the same job in Mountain View.

We are in a transitionary period where many people are earning Mountain view money while living in Pittsburgh (either literally or metaphorically). In the long run, that won't be the case. It may well be a boon to companies to draw from talent all over the country, but they are certainly not going to pay that nationally or globally distributed talent pool the highest local rate. Why on earth would they?

T3OU-736• 2 years ago

Google already adjusts a remote employee's comp when they move geographic locations to a lower cost one.

They have smart accountants, after all.

algorithmmonkey2• 2 years ago

Same thing happens with MSFT. Remote comp is location dependent.

toomuchtodo• 2 years ago

What if making Mountain View money was an abnormality all along?

justinzollars• 2 years ago

Not sure about this. Many big tech companies are very productive an generate a lot of income.

zachmu4• 2 years ago

I do wonder about this. I struggle to believe that the average FAANG employee creates their salary in value. Companies are so flush with cash they are willing to bid up salaries across the board, but it seems like that is a management decision. You hear people openly speculating that Google could cut staffing by 50% with no impact to revenue, which seems about right to me.

phone8675309• 2 years ago

Oh no, workers are making more money.

What a shame!

zachmu4• 2 years ago

Why is it so difficult for people to distinguish between "X will happen" and "it's good that X will happen"?

bluefishinit2• 2 years ago

I get paid according to the value I create, it doesn't matter where I live.

AznHisoka• 2 years ago

So should those engineers in the UK and India get a pay raise then?

andrewclunn• 2 years ago

Because otherwise why the hell would I work for them?

madeofpalk• 2 years ago

Maybe you don't want to live in Mountain View?

algorithmmonkey2• 2 years ago

I would like to see remote comp be structured with a flat base rate across geos, and then have bonuses for locality to corporate centers. If you feel that it is worth it, you can choose to live close to the office. A flat base rate across geos compensates folks doing the same work for the same pay.

bluepizza2• 2 years ago

In the long run, that won't be the case.

Nice crystal ball you have there. I, for one, have no idea if that will or won't be the case.

zachmu4• 2 years ago

Unless you believe that engineers in Paris are a quarter as productive as engineers in San Francisco, you already acknowledge that geographically defined labor markets vary dramatically in compensation. If you remove those borders, why would you believe the rate for labor would settle on the high value instead of the low value.

kelsey98765431• 2 years ago

The wonderful flip side to this is that Silicon Valley engineers also get that additional compensation bump when working for out of state companies. SF Bay engineers can demand more than twice what a Pittsburg dev can ask for and the fact they live in SF Bay is part of the resume itself. Lots of very easy work at very competitive rates to take the Silicon Valley skill set out to nowhereville and they love being able to point to their San Francisco 10x talent. Everyone wins?

ChrisArchitect• 2 years ago

Recent related discussions:

Return to Office Is a Mistake

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39774903

Show HN: Return To Office Mandates suck

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39745254

Dell workers can stay remote – but they're not going to get promoted

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39728252

Remote Work Is Here to Stay

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