The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to move online, and this feature from TechCrunch sheds light on how the work-from-home set up will change the compensation scenario within companies.
Most tech companies are said to base compensation on an employee’s local cost of living, in addition to their skills and responsibilities. It’s being observed worldwide that the pandemic-era push to remote work is reinforcing that.
- Facebook said last week that it would be readjusting salaries for employees who have relocated away from the Bay Area.
- “Long term, I think market forces and the mobility of talent will force employers to stop discriminating on the basis of geography for geographically agnostic roles,” says Matt Mullenweg, chief executive officer of Automattic (WordPress), who was quoted in the story.
- Mullenweg also thinks that for “moral and competitive reasons, companies will move toward globally fair compensation over time with roles that can be done from anywhere.”
- Jon Holman, a tech recruiter, told TechCrunch he feels that the market forces will ultimately favour talent, and companies that want talent will pay according to what they can afford.
- Holman explained that if an employee is working remotely in another region and the demand for the skillset exceeds supply, then the talent could decide to seek a more lucrative position locally if the adjusted pay is inadequate.