4 ms·
How do they ensure that their employees actually live at that location and dont just have a po-box or a buddy there to score an extra 20k a year? When you work
by nickthemagicman 7y ago
How do they ensure that their employees actually live at that location and dont just have a po-box or a buddy there to score an extra 20k a year?
When you work remotely home is subjective.
This is sort of a case of malicious compliance.
- jcadam 7y agoWhat if you start at a low salary because you live in Mississippi, and later decide you want to move to NYC. Do they automatically give you a raise?
- ghaff 7y agoAccording to their policies, if you want to relocate, you have to tell the company which will choose to extend you a new contract or not. (Presumably this partially relates to salary but they also make the point they're really not indifferent to location. They take things like timezones, proximity to customers, etc. into account.)
- alt_f4 7y agoSo, essentially, even though you're "remote", you are tied to your current location and you're their bitch. Reject companies like GitLab, don't work there, don't support that.
- ghaff 7y agoSome companies are more flexible than others, but it's pretty common that "remote" employees can't just pickup and move anywhere in the world they feel like it. Honestly, if one really wants to have that kind of flexibility they should probably consider consulting.
- alt_f4 7y agoGitLab hires all "employees" in non-mainstream locations as contractors anyways. So, legally, it is consulting. But they treat you like an employee anyway. Legal grey area?
- ghaff 7y agoI don't really care about the legal status. I was suggesting that, as a truly independent contractor, you can set your own rates and if you're fulfilling your contract remotely you can certainly choose to charge the same whether you're in SF or a beach in Thailand.
- alt_f4 7y agoI stopped reading when you claimed you don't care if it is legal or not to treat someone as an employee, but hire him as a contractor instead.
- ghaff 7y agoI care if it's legal or not. But hiring people as full employees requires certain legal structures/organizations to be in place in a location. There are costs associated with setting up those structures. This often doesn't make sense if there's only one person in a country or other such political entity. Small companies do indeed not expand geographically for this reason--or hire through a partner or other entity that is already established there.
- ghaff 7y agoWell, for starters, you're probably violating the law because the residency you're claiming for tax purposes, etc. isn't your actual residency. I expect you're also in violation of your employment agreement. (And I very much doubt you're going to keep this a secret especially if you do any travel.)