Jobs in the US pays the most, but not by a very large margin. Even less if measured in buying power. People in the US also prioritizes salary higher than people in western Europe, say.
Just looking at salary is comparing apples to oranges.
On top of that, you get paid double or triple. If your sick, you just say, 'i'm sick' and either WFH if it's minor and you don't want to infect the office. Or not work at all if it's major enough
I imagine it's the same in the US outside of SV and NYC.
Considering these people are supposed to have all the same experience level, I'm surprised why there's such variation.
Also, they described 5+ years experience, not the same experience level.
The question was, as I interpreted it, what could early hirees be offered, besides share options, to entice them to join a company?
My answer was along the lines of what would entice me.
I've played the share option game, and did reasonably well at the time, but my last two years at the company was just "resting and vesting." I have no attraction to that again.
So, what would be required to attract me to US startup with no goal of going public? A decent salary, 4-5 weeks annual leave, sick leave and parental leave. This would really just put me on a par with my current European employment situation, but it is the minimum I would require in this scenario.
I'm not arguing here that USA rules EU sucks cuz $$$. I get that Europeans get more social benefits and free time. I was just responding to phillc73, who was arguing for more of the Euro perks, that those perks are not cheap.