I actually saw this myself recently while looking at Netflix job listings before I ran across this article. Almost seems like they're sticking up their middle finger to "the man" for making them post pay ranges.
I mean, I get it. Companies don't want to disclose what they pay. But providing a relatively smaller range that better reflects what someone in that position might expect to get in reality might not be that hard, no? The $90k-$900k might look like $200k to $500k after that. Still quite ambiguous, but more reasonable.
Otherwise, I'm having a hard time believing most of the advertised positions aren't in the process of being filled by internal staff, or being recruited for with an internal team that has the actual salary range, and Netflix or similar companies that do this sort of stuff just to post jobs online because of some legal requirement. IIRC in some states you can't actually hire someone unless you've actually posted the job opening online somewhere.
Some people might want all cash; others might want mostly RSUs. I'd want to pay the first person $900K in cash and $100K in shares. I'd want to pay the second person $100K in cash and $900K in shares.
The law requires me to post only the cash portion of their compensation; from the above facts, my range is quite genuinely $100K to $900K.
So the pay ranges at companies/industries where people often have the choice between a more cash heavy vs more RSU/Stock heavy compensation can be quite drastic like the one here without actually being incorrect, though obviously Netflix/other large tech companies can be outliers. Other industries that are very bonus or commision heavy can also get away with posting very "weird" looking pay ranges as well.
> “The laws say you should post the ranges that you reasonably expect to pay,”
If I reasonably expect to pay up to $900K/yr and I find an amazing candidate that I want to pay $1M/yr, I can almost certainly do so without it being a violation of the law.
Attempting to portray Netflix as anything else other than a conglomerate doing it's damnedest to pay as little as possible is disingenuous at best, and astroturfing at it's worst. Since when was Netflix the little guy sticking up to "the man"? Netflix IS "the man".
Lack of pay transparency only benefits one side: the company's.
Netflix pays some of the highest compensation in the industry, and all cash at that.