Getting paid less for doing the exact same job, just a few miles away. :) Isn't that wonderful? But at least the corporate real estate market is happy.

Oh no, I would bet some money that the C level execs at these companies own a lot of residential property near their campuses. Likely purchased before they announced building said campus! It's just good business sense.

If the employees move away rent goes down, so does demand for their properties.. so yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Yeah. Someone could have lived there long term, had a Job, and now are suddenly getting a pay cut?

... if they are charging from being in the office from 5 days a week (before times) to 0 days a week (now) rather than 3 days a week in office and 2 from home.

5 -> 0 is a pay cut based on where you live.

5 -> 3 is not a pay cut as you're still working out of the same office.

Ah, OK I thought anybody who lived in Santa Cruz and reported to the office 5 days a week would take a pay cut. This is just if you're fully remote, I guess. Still seems like a slap, Santa Cruz ain't cheap even if it's slightly better than San Mateo or Mountain View.

So I'm a "super commuter"; I can take the Metro North from the end of the line to NYC, although I usually go for Amtrak for several reasons.

If I were to go fully remote, I would take a pay cut ... but it would be almost identical to my commuting costs, once you account for rail fair, parking, vehicle mileage, taxes, snacks, etc.

I don't know how representative my case is, but the pay cut ends up being a non-factor in my decision whether or not to apply for full remote.