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recent somewhat related article discussion: Remote work means anyone can take your job https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23337857 https://news.ycombinator.c
by dpau 6y ago
recent somewhat related article discussion:
Remote work means anyone can take your job
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23337857 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23337857
- valuearb 6y agoThey can if your skills aren't unique.
- threatofrain 6y agoVery few people are unique, so what's the point in mentioning that in a tiny sentence if you're not going further with it? Perhaps the insight comes... one reply later?
- hinkley 6y agoMost employers aren’t quite sure what they’re paying for so it hardly matters if your skills are unique anyway.
- quantummkv 6y agoVery few people in any industry have a truly unique set of skills. And in jobs that can be easily remoted away like software, that quantity is even less.
- taneq 6y agoThere's not too many of us with truly unique skills. And even those can usually be covered by different combinations of employees.
- valuearb 6y agoUnique in this context doesn’t mean absolute uniqueness, it means your skills aren’t widely available. The world needs experienced Go developers for an example. Being able to hire one remotely may increase the available pool of Go developers you can hire, but it doesn’t make them cheaper. That’s because hiring remotely also increases the number of employers chasing the same few Go devs.
- bdcravens 6y agoEven those without "unique" skills can typically be taught and the company still comes out ahead.
- chrischen 6y agoFor small businesses and small startups it's still non-trivial to hire out of state, in terms of legal and tax overhead.
- not_a_moth 6y agoIgnorant here and sure this varies per state, but what are some of main the legal or tax challenges?
- sokoloff 6y agoYou need a healthcare plan or plans that covers employees based there (some HMOs are regionally focused for routine in-network care).
- killion 6y agoSome states have worker’s compensation monopolies so you have to buy it from the state. All states require that you register as a company there and pay taxes. There are PEOs like Justworks that act as the employer and file taxes for you. But you still have to register first and then assign the company to the PEO. In short it varies a lot and that doesn’t take into account things like local laws on compensation. I say this as a founder of a remote-first startup registered in 12 states.
- not_a_moth 6y agoInteresting not what I'd expect with a PEO. Any sense on whether JustWorks requirement is because of law or because is best for JustWorks?
- chrischen 6y agoIt’s because of laws. PEO handles some things but states being what they are have exceptions. It’s unfortunate because this system encourages hiring remote offshore contractors.