Google Plans to Cut Remote Workers’ Salaries by 25% | Hacker News Reader

Google Plans to Cut Remote Workers’ Salaries by 25%

forbes.com

Employment is a market. Google needs to pay what the market will bear. If the "remote worker" market is 25% cheaper than Silicon Valley, then that's what they'll pay. If they underpay then they'll lose workers.

Or... maybe Google wants the remote workers to find other jobs. If they believe that in person employment is that much better they should be willing to pay 25% more (well, technically 33% more) that's their right. History will show if they made a smart decision.

They should be prepared for surprise resignations.

I’ve worked with “ex-Googlers” who got paid insane sums of money because they were “ex-Googlers.”

There are plenty of companies that pay remote employees SF/NY wages and who would love to snatch a Googler.

If Google is OK with that then fine.

But they shouldn’t be supposed if employees start looking for a place that pays SF wages in Des Moines.

Isn't one of the perks that Google is relatively low stress? Some of these xooglers may be in for a rude awakening when it comes to work-life balance.

x-googlers are expensive. most companies can't afford them. They'd likely need to sell with stock options and IPO prospects

I get weekly emails from HFTs wanting to hire SWEs and SREs for >500k base. These companies do exist but vary quite a bit in quality of life and stress.

What sort of background are they looking for? Out of … curiosity?

It's a very specific niche that I fall in: experience with managing OSS, lots of build systems, CI/CD, managing reliable systems (N+1, monitoring, latency management), C++ & assembly for x86, etc.

Essentially they want someone they can plop into a dysfunctional team who can help bring things back to a steady state regardless of the issues that are there while keeping everyone happy which is something I've done two or three times.

Rather then butting heads you make demos, convince people, lead by consensus, help put people in charge of sub projects that they can execute on, etc.

that sounds way more rare than most jobs

I started getting them at ~2 months at Google. I was no more qualified for those jobs then than I was before I joined Google. I got the seal of "he's a Googler, he's super smart" which currently exists. I'm not saying it's true. I've worked with baby googlers who somehow find the best way to nose dive the quality and reliability of all software at a company. I've also worked with others that can turn entire companies around and get them on track with amazing tech knowledge and leadership. I aim to be the latter and so far, before Google, I have a pretty good track record of doing that. The Xoogler mark just makes it easy for recruiting people to find me.

Plenty of unicorns around. They would love those googlers, and many are willing to pay SF wages in (say) Des Moines.

It's not a question of SF wages, but Google-in-SF wages. Which is VERY high. I think a citation is needed for your claim.

Good point, unicorns should be rare, let's just call them horses now, or better yet- donkeys.

I’ve had the same thought.

This feels like more of a “let’s float the idea that we are considering a 25% salary cut for remote folks.. so get your butt back to the office…”

If you live near the office, there's no paycut for going remote (other than missing perks like free lunch)

Disclaimer- I work for Google and think this article is intentionally misleading clickbait

Remote workers should then charge Google for use of their homes as office space, telephone, internet connection, lighting, office supplies. Seems like that would make up the 25%.

Remote workers should cost Google less overall even with no pay cut because Google doesn't have to pay all that office overhead and studies show remote workers are more productive and put in more hours. So they could give remote workers a raise and still save money.

If the argument is that the higher salary compensates for the high cost of city housing then should the workers who happen to find and live in cheaper housing also get a pay cut, even if they come into the office? Can workers get a pay raise by moving to a more expensive house?

Yes, they plan. But people make counter plans, too.

Companies have no business concerning themselves with my expenses or my profit over cost.

Also, for years developers slept in vans in the parking lot to get around SF housing costs, I don't see how remote is any different.

Google and other companies have paid employees in India much less than similarly skilled employees in the U.S. for some time. Should that also be prohibited?

For quality employees? Yes. The idea that we shouldn't take advantage of people just because they live in another country shouldn't be controversial, but here we are.

The scaling for distance seems a little off but if your salary was negotiated for an in-person position, and you then want change that agreement, for any reason pandemic or not, then surely something has to give?

Well, they aren’t, they just think you won’t get a better offer. The operative word in Bay Area Salaries was “Bay Area.”

Are they cutting only salaries or equity as well?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com