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Comment by chrisco255 | Hacker News Reader

Currency differences would be a big reason. Currencies can shift against each other and if the dollar weakens or strengthens against the Euro or Yen or whatever, it would mean their payroll costs would fluctuate unpredictably.

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Having different pay ranges for different countries still exposes Reddit to currency fluctuations.

Yes, but at least there's some ability to be flexible. Pegging international pay to USD (or any other currency) just means that there's one less tool to address the problem when things change.

A Treasury dept can solve that easily. Many companies buy equal and opposite currency swaps for every cross currency transaction they make.

Yeah but now you added more complexity and costs just so you can employ offshore people.

That’s easy. Just pay employees in USD no matter where they are. Employees would face the currency risks of their own country relative to USD.

The IRS is going to come after you for taxes anyway (post first 105k) so you might as well earn it in USD, bank it in the US, and transfer what you need to whereever you are.

The good news is that some countries won't bother taxing you if you're working for a US company remotely - they're just happy to have expats spending in the local economy.

That only applies if you are a US citizen or permanent resident. For others, it is very inconvenient to have their income tied to a foreign country and/or foreign exchange rates.

Not for say, people in Mexico. Given the inflation rate of our coin, it would be a benefit to be paid in USD.

You would be surprised how common is is then, especially in areas of Europe surrounding non EU countries where international daily commutes are not uncommon, not to mention remote working.

I work for an engineering company in Switzerland, and half my team are German citizens who (pre-covid) made a daily commute all while enjoying the lower cost of living in Germany.

For me in Turkey: Having my tied to a foreign country is kind of inconvenient (paying fees and having to wait for a swift transfer). Having it tied to an exchange rate has benefits that far outweigh the inconveniences of the transfer (With the way exchange rates have been going for the last few years, it feels more like* you get automatic raises throughout the year tied to inflation in addition to your yearly raise)

* I know it is not that, but it feels like that. Also thankfully not tied to the officially reported inflation rate in Turkey

The USD has been one of the best performing currencies in the world in most people's lifetimes. I'm sure that most people would prefer to be paid in that currency.

For every Swiss Franc that strengthened 15% against the dollar in 10 years there's an Argentine Peso that because 45 times weaker in that time period.

Not sure how the long term exchange rate movements are relevant for most people who take a paycheck, spend a great deal of it, then use the rest to pay down debt or invest. Not many people are choosing to long term hold and deciding between dollars or pesos. And even if paid in pesos you could open a dollar bank account anywhere.

If you get paid in Peso you lose money every payday that you don't get a significant raise in salary. If you get paid in Dollars your salary raises roughly on pace with inflation.

Yes of course - the context of the thread is "why stay in the US"? Please don't be so pedantic.

Yeah, that's a problem. If the dollar loses 10-20% against their native currency, then they all of a sudden have a 10-20% pay cut.

It goes the other way too.

Even if that happened (which is highly unlikely) then the employees would still earn more money since SF/NY salary - 20% is greater than salaries outside USA.

Most smart people I know who work in areas with weak currency use USD or Euro. Hard to find a better reserve currency than that.

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