6 ms·

Let's not beat around the bush, specifically, Gitlab does this, IIRC.

brantonb 7y ago
Explained here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation/#paying-local-rates https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation...
- JoeCortopassi 7y ago
  Great explanation of a bad practice. A company should pay for the value they get, which is independent of the location. These calculations never seem to take into effect all the cost savings of having a remote person (office building/parking/food/working space/etc). Instead, they almost always mark the employee as a second tier of worker
  - slackfan 7y ago
    My company tends to do something similar for starting salaries, but that's because we're a consultancy, and our rates per-market are different. However: In the long term if employees stay with the company long term, salaries tend to get bumped up to approximately the same. So you might get started lower, but your yearly pay bump will be higher.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- bernawil 7y ago
  those arguments look just slightly in bad faith since they act like they're only competing for talent against local non-remote companies for every location when they're not. They're also competing against other remote companies, specially those that don't do location-based comp. Team members in low-wage regions being in golden handcuffs and sticking around because of the compensation even when they are unhappy. Those people will be still be in golden-handcuffs until they find another remote job. A concentration of team members in low-wage regions, since it is a better deal for them, while we want a geographically diverse team. Come on, you can still pay top dollar globally and hire evenly around the globe if that's what you want. It's just cheaper their way. Honestly, the whole thing is just a huge rationalization. They could just have said "we adjust for location because we can".
- matthewbauer 7y ago
  > Team members in low-wage regions being in golden handcuffs and sticking around because of the compensation even when they are unhappy. We believe that it is healthy for the company when unhappy people leave. What??? Only in SV could a company get away with saying it’s “healthy” to not pay people their value. Usually, golden handcuffs refer to retirement and other benefits, not base compensation.
deleted 7y ago
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gregkerzhner 7y ago
GitHub does this as well. When I spoke to their recruiter they offered me 30 to 50% less than what I currently make because I live in a "tier 3" city.
- slackfan 7y ago
  Honestly, if it was like a 5-10% difference it wouldn't be as nearly as insulting.
- matthewbauer 7y ago
  Did you try a counter offer? I would think they would be flexible on this if they are in fact paying people in SF and NYC that much. I wonder if anyone has tried moving to NYC/SF for a year and then moving back to lower cost of living. Would these remote-only companies really give you a paycut?

Explained here: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation/#paying-local-rates https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/total-rewards/compensation...

JoeCortopassi 7y ago
Great explanation of a bad practice. A company should pay for the value they get, which is independent of the location. These calculations never seem to take into effect all the cost savings of having a remote person (office building/parking/food/working space/etc). Instead, they almost always mark the employee as a second tier of worker
- slackfan 7y ago
  My company tends to do something similar for starting salaries, but that's because we're a consultancy, and our rates per-market are different. However: In the long term if employees stay with the company long term, salaries tend to get bumped up to approximately the same. So you might get started lower, but your yearly pay bump will be higher.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
bernawil 7y ago
those arguments look just slightly in bad faith since they act like they're only competing for talent against local non-remote companies for every location when they're not. They're also competing against other remote companies, specially those that don't do location-based comp. Team members in low-wage regions being in golden handcuffs and sticking around because of the compensation even when they are unhappy. Those people will be still be in golden-handcuffs until they find another remote job. A concentration of team members in low-wage regions, since it is a better deal for them, while we want a geographically diverse team. Come on, you can still pay top dollar globally and hire evenly around the globe if that's what you want. It's just cheaper their way. Honestly, the whole thing is just a huge rationalization. They could just have said "we adjust for location because we can".
matthewbauer 7y ago
> Team members in low-wage regions being in golden handcuffs and sticking around because of the compensation even when they are unhappy. We believe that it is healthy for the company when unhappy people leave. What??? Only in SV could a company get away with saying it’s “healthy” to not pay people their value. Usually, golden handcuffs refer to retirement and other benefits, not base compensation.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

gregkerzhner 7y ago

GitHub does this as well. When I spoke to their recruiter they offered me 30 to 50% less than what I currently make because I live in a "tier 3" city.

slackfan 7y ago
Honestly, if it was like a 5-10% difference it wouldn't be as nearly as insulting.
matthewbauer 7y ago
Did you try a counter offer? I would think they would be flexible on this if they are in fact paying people in SF and NYC that much. I wonder if anyone has tried moving to NYC/SF for a year and then moving back to lower cost of living. Would these remote-only companies really give you a paycut?