Game theory
I meant the thinking that tries to minimize cost and aims for "how much they have to pay you before you decide to quit".
Re:Remote First at Brex
by barry-cotter on Tuesday September 15, 2020 @06:44AM
(#24479735)
Profit maximization. You make the point that companies can choose to hire employees that aren’t the bottom of the barrel but then you’re selling a different product to those who really are squeezing every penny. CostCo and Walmart are both successful superstores but one sells many more products, in smaller minimum purchases, and hires lower quality employees while paying less. These kinds of differentiation factors lead to what’s called oligopolistic competition[1]. They’re not in separate markets but they’re it selling the same product either.
[1] https://www.monash.edu/business/marketing/marketing-dictiona...
Essentially you're minimizing cost by paying the lowest possible local rate, but isn't it just as valid for someone else to maximize quality by paying a competitive rate for the most expensive locale? Presumably both would be pushed to a middle (location independent) wage because the company minimizing price will (presumably) have issues hiring all bottom-of-the barrel employees, while the company optimizing for quality will have issues paying top dollar when it only provides marginal gains over a high-average wage.