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Comment by izacus | Hacker News Reader

I know it's hard to understand, but for a lot of people thinking about money doesn't dominate their decision making and mindset. I bet most people don't think about their job as "giving discount on their labor" but instead spend time thinking on things unrelated to money.

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Sure, but not thinking about it doesn't make the dynamics it enables less relevant. Don't think about it, let them pay you less, there's less incentive to raise wages. I don't know, take what you can while you can. If not, they will, and they usually have no loyalty towards you. Even if you don't want to use it, optimize your ability to help your loved ones. Minimize risk. Give it to charity, whatever.

I'm not arguing to be a salary-maximalist, but to insinuate it's not something a worker should always have in mind to some extent feels out of line with our economic system.

It's not about dominating your mindset. It's about recognizing that your employment is a negotiation and treating it as such. Applying to 2 or 3 other companies every other year to test the market is not the all-encompassing chore, dollar signs for pupils caricature, that it is being made out to be in this thread.

Your company is not your family. The company is loyal to you to the extent that it is contractually obligated to be. The coworker friendships that are worth maintaining longterm will survive past your time with the company.

> I bet most people don't think about their job as "giving discount on their labor"

All salaried workers would be better off if they did just that. As a reminder, Google and Apple engaged in a literal criminal conspiracy to suppress wages.

Personally I find it hard to believe that there's a company so good that it's worth leaving 50% of your salary on the table. Like if you have high autonomy and you're curing cancer or building rocket ships I can see it. But for the 99.9% of other jobs there are equivalents. Why leave all that money on the table?

Risk aversion.

Getting 50% extra quality of life. Working 30 instead of 40 hours. Waking up at 10am. Time is invaluable, money isn’t. Grinding at 75% rather than 100% makes all the difference in mental health.

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