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Having any kind of 'secondary address' doesn't matter. Nobody is saying anything about selling a house. There are many, many people who own multiple residences

Having any kind of 'secondary address' doesn't matter. Nobody is saying anything about selling a house. There are many, many people who own multiple residences. That's not what matters here. All that matter is what your actual cost of living is (measured by proxy via where you actually live) versus what you tell GitLab your cost of living is (measured by proxy via where you say you live (regardless of if its your primary address or a secondary address or whatever)). If you knowingly tell GitLab that your COL is higher than it actually is so that GitLab gives you higher pay, that is the very definition of fraud. > What if the employee does not have a fixed address? ... Is their pay adjusted for each city they drive their van to? Yes, it is adjusted by each new place's COL. GitLab details this out in their compensation handbook, if you're really interested. > What if that person's fixed address is already registered at some organisation or mail center in a "high pay area"? Should they be required to change it to a "low pay area" to be ethical? They should tell GitLab that they do not actually live in the high COL area and should be paid accordingly to the low COL area. I think you're getting hung up on some sort of strict 'legal address' definition. In this discussion about compensation, I don't think GitLab gives a damn what your "legal address" is or where you get your mail delivered to. They care about your actual cost of living, and they use an address as a convenient way to measure that. If your actual cost of living doesn't match where your 'legal address' is or where you get your mail delivered, you would simply tell them "My legal address is X, but I actually live in Y".

Raphmedia 7y ago
> They care about your actual cost of living. Except they don't. If they cared for that they would ask for your rent and economic situation. They are not asking your cost of living to help you, they are asking which hiring pool you belong to in order to cut on operational costs. You could be living rent free & debt free in a high pay area and still get a higher pay than someone with dependents, debts and a high (for their area) rent. This is the part that disturbs me. Being born in a good situation and staying with your parents without any costs would mean your paycheck is bigger than someone born in a worst situation that is also living at home. You might as well build your class barriers out of concrete at that point. Postal-code discrimination is something that should be removed from our lives. Remote working is one solutions to this issue. I really hope that this practice doesn't become a trend.
- txcwpalpha 7y ago
  >Except they don't. If they cared for that they would ask for your rent and economic situation. I think you misunderstand what "Cost of Living" actually quantifies. It is not meant to quantify your personal economic situation, and is far more than just rent. COL is meant to quantify how much it costs to afford a basic standard of living, such as the cost to buy a basic meal or afford a basic apartment. It is not meant to quantify each individual's specific economic situation, living arrangements, debts, dependents, etc. Cost of living is difficult to accurately quantify, and the most accurate proxy is geographic location. I'm sure GitLab et al would give some adjustments to compensation based on extraneous personal factors, but it's not up to the company to hold your hand and make sure every employee is making exactly enough money to pay all of their bills. At some point that becomes the employee's responsibility. >You could be living rent free & debt free in a high pay area and still get a higher pay than someone with dependents, debts and a high (for their area) rent. Are you suggesting that someone who is debt free and rent free should be punished via a lower wage for their choices which led to them not being in debt? Conversely, should someone be paid a higher wage just because they made bad decisions earlier in life and have mountains of credit card debt? As mentioned above, debt is specifically not included in COL calculations for these reasons. COL also doesn't change based on if you decide to live in a high rise condo or a camper van. Yes, if these people are doing the same work and live in the same area, someone living rent free and debt free should still get the same pay as someone with dependents and high rent. Their personal situation may be different, but their standard cost of living is the same. And this isn't any different than any other company in the world, nor is it the business of any other company in the world to solve. I know someone who used to work at Google making a very high salary, but paid no rent and only minimal bills because he lived at his parents. And by the way, other companies adjust their pay geographically, too. A cashier at a McDonalds in rural Kansas gets less of an hourly wage than a cashier at a McDonalds in SF. This already is the norm, and though it isn't perfect, it isn't nearly as disastrous as you make it sound. >You might as well build your class barriers out of concrete at that point. I'm not sure how I see this is a class barrier. This is not saying "if you grew up in Compton, we will not pay you a high wage and you will never have the opportunity to move to a better area". This is saying "if you currently live in a low COL area, we will pay you accordingly. And we will pay you more if you make the decision to move somewhere with a higher COL". That is almost exactly the opposite of a barrier, as it is clearly saying we will up your pay if you choose to take on higher COL. Many people view this as a matter of "two people performing the same work deserve equal dollar amounts". Other people (presumably like those who make the decisions at GitLab) think that "two people performing the same work deserve the equal quality of life", and the dollar amount required to obtain a standard quality of life is variable depending on where you live. Someone making $80k/year will live decently in SF, while someone making $80k/year will live an luxurious, king-like life in rural Laos. Assuming they are performing the same work, why should the Laotian enjoy a higher quality of life than the San Franciscan?

Raphmedia 7y ago

> They care about your actual cost of living. Except they don't. If they cared for that they would ask for your rent and economic situation. They are not asking your cost of living to help you, they are asking which hiring pool you belong to in order to cut on operational costs. You could be living rent free & debt free in a high pay area and still get a higher pay than someone with dependents, debts and a high (for their area) rent. This is the part that disturbs me. Being born in a good situation and staying with your parents without any costs would mean your paycheck is bigger than someone born in a worst situation that is also living at home. You might as well build your class barriers out of concrete at that point. Postal-code discrimination is something that should be removed from our lives. Remote working is one solutions to this issue. I really hope that this practice doesn't become a trend.

txcwpalpha 7y ago
>Except they don't. If they cared for that they would ask for your rent and economic situation. I think you misunderstand what "Cost of Living" actually quantifies. It is not meant to quantify your personal economic situation, and is far more than just rent. COL is meant to quantify how much it costs to afford a basic standard of living, such as the cost to buy a basic meal or afford a basic apartment. It is not meant to quantify each individual's specific economic situation, living arrangements, debts, dependents, etc. Cost of living is difficult to accurately quantify, and the most accurate proxy is geographic location. I'm sure GitLab et al would give some adjustments to compensation based on extraneous personal factors, but it's not up to the company to hold your hand and make sure every employee is making exactly enough money to pay all of their bills. At some point that becomes the employee's responsibility. >You could be living rent free & debt free in a high pay area and still get a higher pay than someone with dependents, debts and a high (for their area) rent. Are you suggesting that someone who is debt free and rent free should be punished via a lower wage for their choices which led to them not being in debt? Conversely, should someone be paid a higher wage just because they made bad decisions earlier in life and have mountains of credit card debt? As mentioned above, debt is specifically not included in COL calculations for these reasons. COL also doesn't change based on if you decide to live in a high rise condo or a camper van. Yes, if these people are doing the same work and live in the same area, someone living rent free and debt free should still get the same pay as someone with dependents and high rent. Their personal situation may be different, but their standard cost of living is the same. And this isn't any different than any other company in the world, nor is it the business of any other company in the world to solve. I know someone who used to work at Google making a very high salary, but paid no rent and only minimal bills because he lived at his parents. And by the way, other companies adjust their pay geographically, too. A cashier at a McDonalds in rural Kansas gets less of an hourly wage than a cashier at a McDonalds in SF. This already is the norm, and though it isn't perfect, it isn't nearly as disastrous as you make it sound. >You might as well build your class barriers out of concrete at that point. I'm not sure how I see this is a class barrier. This is not saying "if you grew up in Compton, we will not pay you a high wage and you will never have the opportunity to move to a better area". This is saying "if you currently live in a low COL area, we will pay you accordingly. And we will pay you more if you make the decision to move somewhere with a higher COL". That is almost exactly the opposite of a barrier, as it is clearly saying we will up your pay if you choose to take on higher COL. Many people view this as a matter of "two people performing the same work deserve equal dollar amounts". Other people (presumably like those who make the decisions at GitLab) think that "two people performing the same work deserve the equal quality of life", and the dollar amount required to obtain a standard quality of life is variable depending on where you live. Someone making $80k/year will live decently in SF, while someone making $80k/year will live an luxurious, king-like life in rural Laos. Assuming they are performing the same work, why should the Laotian enjoy a higher quality of life than the San Franciscan?