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Interesting. I have worked a bit on our calculator in the past (technical implementation). Some clarifications, best of my knowledge, currently on mobile: It

Interesting. I have worked a bit on our calculator in the past (technical implementation). Some clarifications, best of my knowledge, currently on mobile: It would be impractical to calculate all the location factors in the world, and in your case it would be calculated. I agree with you that this is less than optimal, as it might stop people from applying if that data is missing. So this is an area where we could improve. Internal discussions on the calculator have lead to changes, e.g. https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/issues/3396 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/issues/3396 So the calculator or location factors are also up for discussion and iteration. When you move, higher location factor definitely needs approval, lower doesn’t afaik. To be honest often location changes with a big factor change are across state or country lines, which might mean change of Entities even in Europe. Compare that to a non remote job, if you are bound to an office location: you cannot move. Personally I haven’t been involved in a location change of a team member, but as a manager I would definitely try to enable my team member to move let’s say from Manchester to London if they do wish.

dvtrn 7y ago
Hello there, thanks for the response. It would be impractical to calculate all the location factors in the world On the one hand I absolutely agree with you here, however I searched for multiple cities in the state of consideration, two of them are international destinations on the Atlantic coastline with considerable economic impact to the state and region at large, and as mentioned one of them is the state Capitol with nationally recognized colleges, I'm just a bit surprised that not this city is represented in your calculation. That said, I do hope that area is improved on at least for the sake of other potential applicants. Cheers!
- alexhutcheson 7y ago
  Did you see that "South Carolina" is an option in the drop-down? It has a value of 0.7, which seems pretty generous: it's higher than New Jersey (0.633), and is the same as Atlanta, Charlotte, and Connecticut (0.7), all of which have higher cost-of-living than most parts of South Carolina. The fact that the urban areas of South Carolina aren't broken out actually seems better for anyone who would plan to live in a rural part of the state. By comparison, "Everywhere else, Georgia", "Everywhere else, North Carolina", and "Everywhere else, Virginia" all have a multiplier of 0.633. This seems to indicate that you'd get paid about ~10.5% more in rural SC than you would in other rural places in the SE.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ljm 7y ago
I would like to ask why you feel a job should be rewarded differently based on location when the deliverables and other gains from the employee are the same? E.g I don’t see why I should take a pay cut moving from the US to the EU. Looking at Basecamp, they give everyone the US salary and they arrange their culture around remote work that way. Note how it doesn’t even work this way between countries, through the ‘most favoured nation’ laws.
- bmarnane 7y ago
  We talk about our reasoning for paying local rates at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/global-compensation/#paying-local-rates https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/global-compen...
  - itake 7y ago
    Your wages aren't even competitive for SF.
    - bmarnane 7y ago
      We're always adjusting our calculations based on market research. Are you including the value of stock options as well?
      - itake 7y ago
        Options aren't worth much and may even end up being a liability. Current advice says to value options at $0. At least grant double binding RSUs.
- austhrow743 7y ago
  It allows them to capture extra value from employing people in areas with less competition from employers. They're not going to say that because a lot of people have odd ideas about compensation that they're very emotionally attached to. There are people that would take a job with them for $X when told its about cost of living fairness that would not take the job for $X if they were told it's about capturing surplus value. This is the same reason it's dangerous to share your compensation with coworkers as an employee. They don't just all say thank you for telling me and negotiate for a higher salary while acting discreetly with regard to your conversation, or start job searching; some will get real mad and irrational and there's a very good chance you'll be caught up in the fallout.

dvtrn 7y ago

Hello there, thanks for the response. It would be impractical to calculate all the location factors in the world On the one hand I absolutely agree with you here, however I searched for multiple cities in the state of consideration, two of them are international destinations on the Atlantic coastline with considerable economic impact to the state and region at large, and as mentioned one of them is the state Capitol with nationally recognized colleges, I'm just a bit surprised that not this city is represented in your calculation. That said, I do hope that area is improved on at least for the sake of other potential applicants. Cheers!

alexhutcheson 7y ago
Did you see that "South Carolina" is an option in the drop-down? It has a value of 0.7, which seems pretty generous: it's higher than New Jersey (0.633), and is the same as Atlanta, Charlotte, and Connecticut (0.7), all of which have higher cost-of-living than most parts of South Carolina. The fact that the urban areas of South Carolina aren't broken out actually seems better for anyone who would plan to live in a rural part of the state. By comparison, "Everywhere else, Georgia", "Everywhere else, North Carolina", and "Everywhere else, Virginia" all have a multiplier of 0.633. This seems to indicate that you'd get paid about ~10.5% more in rural SC than you would in other rural places in the SE.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ljm 7y ago

I would like to ask why you feel a job should be rewarded differently based on location when the deliverables and other gains from the employee are the same? E.g I don’t see why I should take a pay cut moving from the US to the EU. Looking at Basecamp, they give everyone the US salary and they arrange their culture around remote work that way. Note how it doesn’t even work this way between countries, through the ‘most favoured nation’ laws.

bmarnane 7y ago
We talk about our reasoning for paying local rates at https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/global-compensation/#paying-local-rates https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/people-group/global-compen...
- itake 7y ago
  Your wages aren't even competitive for SF.
  - bmarnane 7y ago
    We're always adjusting our calculations based on market research. Are you including the value of stock options as well?
    - itake 7y ago
      Options aren't worth much and may even end up being a liability. Current advice says to value options at $0. At least grant double binding RSUs.
austhrow743 7y ago
It allows them to capture extra value from employing people in areas with less competition from employers. They're not going to say that because a lot of people have odd ideas about compensation that they're very emotionally attached to. There are people that would take a job with them for $X when told its about cost of living fairness that would not take the job for $X if they were told it's about capturing surplus value. This is the same reason it's dangerous to share your compensation with coworkers as an employee. They don't just all say thank you for telling me and negotiate for a higher salary while acting discreetly with regard to your conversation, or start job searching; some will get real mad and irrational and there's a very good chance you'll be caught up in the fallout.