Re:“Location-Based Pay” – Who are we to complain?
by wpietri on Sunday February 14, 2021 @01:34PM
(#26134820)
I'm not a fan of location-based pay, but I think this is too strident:
> that your remuneration is based on the lifestyle that they think is appropriate for you
Often, these schemes happen because it's employees who have lifestyle expectations. "I'd love to work for your company, but I'm not cutting my standard of living." And that's reasonable. The raw amount of money means way less to most people than what it means for their lives. And straight cash compensation is only one factor in picking a job.
The truth here is that the Internet has caused context collapse in far more than work. Labor markets used to be local. They still mostly are, but for those of us lucky enough to be able to work remotely, that's changing. That's going to have knock-on effects in other markets (housing, food, education, etc) for at least a couple of generations.
As we jointly work out the new normal, I think it's worth starting with the assumption that people are not all complete assholes. Yes, by all means let's watch out for worker exploitation; there's a lot of it. But from what I've seen, so many policies are just well-meaning people tinkering with things that they inherited. We can be firm about negotiating for fairness without assuming everybody's out to get us.
> that your remuneration is based on the lifestyle that they think is appropriate for you
Often, these schemes happen because it's employees who have lifestyle expectations. "I'd love to work for your company, but I'm not cutting my standard of living." And that's reasonable. The raw amount of money means way less to most people than what it means for their lives. And straight cash compensation is only one factor in picking a job.
The truth here is that the Internet has caused context collapse in far more than work. Labor markets used to be local. They still mostly are, but for those of us lucky enough to be able to work remotely, that's changing. That's going to have knock-on effects in other markets (housing, food, education, etc) for at least a couple of generations.
As we jointly work out the new normal, I think it's worth starting with the assumption that people are not all complete assholes. Yes, by all means let's watch out for worker exploitation; there's a lot of it. But from what I've seen, so many policies are just well-meaning people tinkering with things that they inherited. We can be firm about negotiating for fairness without assuming everybody's out to get us.