According to Reuters, Google employees who permanently work from home will receive
fewer salaries as long-distance commuters are hit.
It is an experiment conducted across Silicon Valley, which often sets trends for other large employers.
This is an experiment conducted in all parts of Silicon Valley and presents trends to other
large employers.
Facebook and Twitter have also cut paychecks for remote employees who moved to affordable areas.
However, smaller businesses like Reddit and Zillow have adopted a location-agnostic
payroll, citing the benefits of hiring, retention, and diversity.
Google’s Alphabet Inc. is excellent in providing a calculator for its employees to determine the impact of a move.
In practice, however, some long-distance remote employees may experience pay cuts
without changing addresses.
A Google spokesperson said that location determines the company’s compensation packages.
“We always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works,” he said.
Promoted to the same wage
One of Google’s employees chose not to reveal himself, usually commutes from a nearby county to the Seattle office.
According to the company’s Work Location tool launched in June, the employee would face a 10% cut if he were to work from home.
The employee considered remote work but decided to continue working from the office despite a two-hour commute.
“It’s as high of a pay cut as I got for my last promotion. I didn’t do all that hard work to get a promotion and then a pay cut,” the employee said.
Google’s pay system puts to notice those most severely impacted like families, said Jake Rosenfeld, a pay determination researcher and a professor at Washington University.
“What’s clear is that Google doesn’t have to do this,” Rosenfeld said.
Google has paid these workers at 100% of their prior wage, by definition.
He also said that Google paid those employees 100%, and it makes no sense to pay remote employees what they used to receive.
According to Reuters, Google’s calculator tool shows a 15% cut for an employee living in Stamford, Connecticut – an hour from NYC by train.
However, other same-office employees living in New York City have no trouble working from home.
The calculator showed 5% and 10% differences in each of Seattle, Boston, and San Francisco.
According to interviews with Google employees, paychecks are reduced by 25% when moving from San Francisco to a relatively expensive area like Lake Tahoe.
A Google spokesperson said the company does not change its employees’ salaries as they move from the office to fully remote work in the same city.
For instance, employees living in NYC will receive a salary the same as other remote-working employees from the same area.
Google did not specifically address the issue for commuters from areas such as Stamford, Connecticut.
The company did not specifically deal with the commuter issue in areas like Stamford, Connecticut.
