[quote=XBoxBoy][quote=deadzone]If all jobs could be done remotely, then clearly wages would go way down in the long run.[/quote]
I don’t see any reason to believe this. If all jobs could be done remotely wages would go down in some areas and up in others. Not sure why you would think wages would go down simply because they could be done remotely.
Also, if all jobs could be done remotely, in the long run the cost of living in different areas would probably equalize much more than currently. Some areas that would be more desirable due to weather, or beauty of surroundings might be more expensive. But there would be no benefit to living bunched together in high tech areas like Silicon Valley. And currently the thing that makes most places expensive is being near high paying jobs.[/quote]
It’s all relative. Speaking from what we just went through..Most companies in higher wage areas might marginally lower wages below their local markets, but that appears to be only in the fridges, like Bay Area where engineers were offered over $200k base or the big powerhouses that already had pretty sizable packages. And then it’s just marginally lower to remote workers. For all other regions not at the high end fringe, companies have needed to significant raise wages to keep up with every other employer that is offering something higher…The high wage areas also tend to have the most jobs/opportunities, so it’s not an averaging across the US. I’d say there’s a few hotspots like BayArea that while might be offering slightly lower wages for remote opportunities…is still significantly above all the remaining wages offered locally across the US and there’s a lot of those jobs that it drawfs the opportunities in those other local tech markets…What that is going to do is suck out the top talent from the local job pool into those much higher paying jobs that are offered remotely…And so if a local company in a lower cost area wants to retain those higher quality workers or needs to hire additional quality workers, they are going to have to play the game and offer higher wages that are now readily available remotely…
Case in point. My employee works out of Utah now. At least currently, Utah local tech wages aren’t anywhere near San Diego wages….He was offered $160k from a San Diego company. To stay competitive and to keep him, we have to offer him the same or better, even though we are based in lower local wages Florida…
The alternative option would let him move on and to try to hire replacement, someone good from Florida and try to get them in at the local florida wages..But in our experience, it doesn’t work. The really good people in Florida are also quitting and working remotely for the higher wage opportunities elsewhere in the U.S. remotely…So the probability of finding a very talented engineer willing to quit and join a new company at a very low locally set wage is very low because if he/she is already looking for a job, he/she is going to consider all his/her options local or remote. Afterall, if you’re going to take a chance and work for a new company, why would you go through all that hassle and not consider a remote opportunity that offers 20-30-40% more?? That leave the remaining people who remain at their lower local wages who either (1) can’t move (not top talent) or (2) don’t want to move and don’t mind the local wages (maybe there’s stock/stock grant vesting and other reasons to stay)… But those are the people you won’t be able to hire away anyway…It doesn’t matter how badly the company treats them. They aren’t going to move…
So even if you are a Florida company that wants a great engineer, you have to pay above Florida wages…And hope the local Florida employees you still haven’t adjusted the compensation won’t find out the newer hires are paid way more then them, get pissed off enough, and polish their resume. Other groups in my company has recently found out that gamble also doesn’t work. And have to now pay more for new people that knows a lot less, dumbazzes.
