Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Would you accept being paid less to work remotely?

Would you accept being paid less to work remotely?

New plans could see Google employees who choose remote working paid less according to their location and cost of living.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed work habits and brought working remotely firmly into the mainstream. It has also spurred on an exodus of workers leaving large cities for a better work-life balance.

But for employees of tech giant Google, the choice to "work from home" indefinitely means making certain calculations before signing an amendment to their employment contract, according to Reuters.

Google has made a calculator available to its employees to estimate their future salaries based on their place of residence.

The difference in pay between large metropolises and suburban cities can be significant to the point that some employees may be forced to opt to return to the office.

Effectively a pay cut


"What's clear is that Google doesn't have to do this," Jake Rosenfeld, a sociology professor at Washington University in St. Louis who researches pay determination, told Reuters.

"Google has paid these workers at 100 per cent of their prior wage, by definition. So it's not like they can't afford to pay their workers who choose to work remotely the same that they are used to receiving," he added.

Reuters found that an employee in Google’s New York office who chose to move an hour by train away to Stamford, Connecticut, would be paid 15 per cent less if he chose to work remotely.

A San Francisco employee living near Lake Tahoe would lose 25 per cent, according to the calculator.

On the other hand, an employee at either headquarters in San Francisco or New York who teleworked from their home in these metropolises would be paid the same salary as their colleagues who physically go to the office.

"Our compensation packages have always been determined by location, and we always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works from," a Google spokesperson told the news agency.

Employees work in pods at the Google office in Sydney, Australia.


A new trend across Silicon Valley?


After the pandemic was officially declared, Google worked on a number of ideas to adapt to lockdown and remote working.

"At Google, we’ve been an advocate of flexible working for our employees for some time and there are a number of practices we’ve put in place to establish a successful flexible working approach across our business that encompasses all employees," the firm claimed back in May 2020.

"We worked with Timewise, a leading flexible working consultancy, to shape our approach and policies".

The company recently estimated that 20 per cent of its 140,000 employees worldwide will opt for full-time teleworking and as many again will request their transfer to another office.

Yet, this new situation could mean that many employees tempted by teleworking will think twice about it.

According to Reuters, some Google employees who had considered teleworking by moving away from cities have already given up on their plan.

Google is not the only company to implement such a policy of wage differentiation, Reuters reported.

Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter would like to do the same but without providing an online calculator.

Recently, Morgan Stanley CEO, James Gorman, also expressed his wish to see employees come back to the office or face wage cuts.

On the other hand, smaller tech companies such as Reddit or Zillow ZG have decided not to adjust their remote employees’ pay.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
0:00
0:00
Open
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Austrian School Shooting Leaves Nine Dead in Graz
Bezos's Lavish Venice Wedding Sparks Local Protests
Europe Prepares for Historic Lunar Rover Landing
Italian Parents Seek Therapy Amid Lengthy School Holidays
British Fishing Vessel Seized by France Fined €30,000
Dutch Government Collapses Amid Migration Policy Dispute
UK Commits to 3.5% GDP Defence Spending Under NATO Pressure
Germany Moves to Expedite Migrant Deportations
US Urges UK to Raise Defence Spending to 5% of GDP
Israeli Forces Intercept Gaza-Bound Aid Vessel Carrying Greta Thunberg
IMF Warns of Severe Global Trade War Impacts on Emerging Markets
Low Turnout Jeopardizes Italy's Citizenship Reform Referendum
Transatlantic Interest Rate Divergence Widens as Trump Pressures Powell
EU Lawmaker Calls for Broader Exemptions in Supply Chain Legislation
France's Defense Spending Plans Threatened by High National Debt
European Small-Cap Stocks Outperform U.S. Rivals Amid Growth Revival
Switzerland Proposes $26 Billion Capital Increase for UBS
Germany's Merz Signals Continued U.S. Reliance After Meeting with Trump
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Global News Roundup: From Ukraine's strategic military strikes and Russia's demands and Tensions Escalate in Ukraine, to serious legal issues faced by Britons in Bali and Trump's media criticism, the latest developments highlight a turbulent landscape
Majority of French Voters View Macron's Presidency as a Failure
Hungary Partners with China to Boost Electric Vehicle Production
‘Vibe Coding’ Emerges as the New DIY Trend
AI Pioneer Yoshua Bengio Warns Models Can Deceive Users
Big Four Firms Rush to Create AI Auditing Systems
Musk’s xAI Pursues $113 Billion Valuation in New Share Sale
Walmart Increases Revenue Despite Shrinking Workforce
Hims & Hers Plans UK and EU Launch of Replica Obesity Drugs
Toyota to Acquire Supplier in $33 Billion Buyout
U.S. Reduces Military Presence in Syria
Trump Demands Iran End All Uranium Enrichment in Nuclear Talks
BlackRock-Backed Fintech Aims to Become Europe’s Charles Schwab
China Accuses US of Violating Trade Truce
Europe's Strategic Push to Challenge Dollar Dominance
×