So-called fully distributed companies, where everyone works remotely, often pay employees somewhat less than they might earn in the most expensive metropolitan areas, but more than they would make elsewhere.
DuckDuckGo, an internet privacy company with a well-regarded search engine, formally bases its compensation on salaries at a group of technology companies across the United States, excluding the San Francisco Bay Area. Automattic, the maker of the website-building tool WordPress.com, pays employees based on job responsibilities and qualifications, regardless of location. (By contrast, tech companies with physical headquarters often pay workers less if they live in a less expensive area.)
This benefits skilled workers living outside the most expensive markets, and especially where jobs with generous pay are scarce. Jason Caldwell, a marketing manager at WordPress.com, makes safely into the six figures working from Billings, Mont. He is hoping to buy a 100-plus-acre plot where members of his family can build homes.
And while wages for high-skilled workers in the Bay Area could increase less quickly as a more remote world reduces local competition for talent, even they could come out ahead in the end. Reduced hiring of affluent workers in the Bay Area would also mean fewer bidders for real estate, slowing the rise in housing prices, said Adam Ozimek, the chief economist of Upwork, an online freelancing marketplace.
The deeper change is organizational. At a typical company, small chunks of information relevant to one’s work tend to be scattered throughout the organization — with the woman on the other side of your desk pod, the guy three cubicles over, the manager at the end of the hall. This forces workers into a series of person-to-person interactions throughout the day, making it necessary for them to keep similar hours even when that’s not convenient.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/business/economy/labor-remote-work-coronavirus.html
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