The tech giant has made a shocking announcement for its employees. From now on, some teleworkers will see their wages drop by 10% depending on their place of residence.
As in France, the pandemic has changed work habits and generalized teleworking in the United States , causing a departure to the residential suburbs and the great crowns. But if the tech giant Google leaves the choice to its employees to go “work from home” indefinitely, it has just made a shocking announcement. For those in which this will be the case, salaries will be indexed to the place of residence .
Google employees in the United States, who took advantage of the pandemic to move to a location further away from company headquarters and who plan to continue working remotely, may be paid less than before. Up to 10% less if we believe the secrets of an employee of the Seattle office. Facebook and Twitter have also decided to pay less for those who move to less expensive areas and work online. The boss of the bank Morgan Stanley predicted that this trend would quickly apply to other industries .
The downside of working for tech giants is that they are in possession of numerous data . This makes it almost easier for them to build cost of living index calculation tools. Last trend therefore from Silicon Valley , which however forgot to take into account all those who lived in more affordable areas already before the pandemic and had decided to come to the office less because the company already offered this flexibility. They will be the big losers from the new organization of work in tech.
Google employees who choose to work from home permanently may face pay cuts, according to a report by Reuters.
Workers with longer commutes were reported to receive the highest pay cuts. Reuters found that an employee living in Stamford, Connecticut, an hour from Google’s New York office, would be paid 15% less working from home, but a colleague living in New York would see no cut.
Another Google employee chose to make a two-hour commute to the Seattle office instead of a 10% pay cut for working from home full-time.
An employee working in the New York City office will be paid just as much as someone working remotely in the same area, a Google spokesperson told Reuters.
“Culturally, we’re seeing a rise in pay transparency, and people feel very strongly that it’s not fair to be paid different amounts for the same work and for the same quality output of work,” Pollak told USA TODAY.
Pollak noted reports indicating remote work is here to stay and employees are willing to quit and find work elsewhere if it’s taken away. She said changing the salary for an employee is difficult to do regardless of location.