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posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 27 2020, @04:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the working-my-way-back-to-you dept.

There's been some recent speculation about the effects working from home will have on various parts of the economy, particularly the commercial real estate market. If companies can figure out how to keep employees productive, coupled with the desire for some to relocate to more rural areas (and consequently, farther away from the office), it's possible some companies may reconsider continuing to carry all the overhead associated with having an office.

Which leads to the question: should remote workers accept a pay cut for working remotely?

A recent survey of 600 U.S. adults found 66 percent willing to take a pay cut for the flexibility of working remotely.

To what degree varied, however.

  • Fourteen percent would take a one to four percent cut;
  • Twenty-nine percent would take a five-to-14 percent cut;
  • Seventeen percent would take a 15-to-24 percent cut;
  • Seven percent would take a 25 percent or more cut;
  • Thirty-four percent would not take a lower salary for flexible remote work.

The survey, taken from July 5 through 7 from Fast, a start-up specializing in online checkout, found COVID-19 safety concerns part of the current appeal of remote working. Thirty-nine percent were less comfortable returning to their physical office compared to 30 days before. However, 65 percent preferred a workplace that gives employees the flexibility to choose where and when they work remotely.

[...] The concept of "localized compensation" or paying someone less for the same work because of where they live is being hotly debated in human resources circles. In May, Facebook drew some backlash after announcing that employees choosing to permanently work remotely will receive salary cuts if they move to less expensive areas.

Originally spotted on The Eponymous Pickle.


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  • (Score: 2) by looorg on Monday July 27 2020, @01:32PM (2 children)

    by looorg (578) on Monday July 27 2020, @01:32PM (#1027070)

    As more or less everyone already pointed out: NO! Why would I agree it that? If as also noted wouldn't it cost them less to have me not taking up space and resources in the office. Even if I might possibly slack off a bit more at home then at the office, or wear pants. The only difference is really that I don't work 100% of the time I'm at the office either, you just "waste" time in other ways then you might do working from home. I might consider it as a perk sort of like a company car or something similar to be able to work remotely but I wouldn't take a paycut in the 1-25% range for the pleasure of being able to nullify my commute -- it's not going to be entirely zero as you probably now and then have to get to office for meeting and other things (such as raiding the place for office supplies).

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  • (Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Monday July 27 2020, @11:10PM (1 child)

    by fyngyrz (6567) on Monday July 27 2020, @11:10PM (#1027374) Journal

    I wouldn't take a paycut in the 1-25% range for the pleasure of being able to nullify my commute

    I enjoyed my commute, back when I was working for others. It was time by myself, I could turn up the music as much as I wanted (I lived in the city at the time, and the apartment meant limited audio levels were an absolute requirement), the driving itself was fun, errands could be (and were) integrated with the drive, both ways.

    Bottom line, I didn't consider it a downside. Cost... meh. Fun with vehicles always costs something. I still drive for fun, and I have no boss to concern myself with.

    I think it's outright hilarious that people would even contemplate taking a pay cut to work from home. Unless they were going to do less work. You're being paid to work, right? Was anyone paying you to commute? Not likely, I'm thinking.

    It's not so hilarious that corporate scumbags would think this was a good lever to use, though. Nor surprising. They're not there to take care of workers. They are there to take advantage of workers.

    --
    I despise spelling errors. You mix up two
    letters, and your whole sentence is urined.

    • (Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday July 28 2020, @12:23AM

      by looorg (578) on Tuesday July 28 2020, @12:23AM (#1027420)

      I didn't use to mind my commute, even tho it was 3h per day via train and bus. It gave me a lot of time to read. But eventually, after a few years, it grew somewhat tiresome to pretty much waste 15h a week on a commute (+ an hour or two of waiting for trains and buses). I figured I could do more interesting things with that time, so I had that issue fixed in my contract. But even if I couldn't have done that I would never take a 25% pay cut to get rid of it. I still do it, the commute, every now and then as there are offices in two locations and sometimes I still have to be at the other location, but it's getting more and more rare (so now I sort of enjoy it again, or at least don't mind it).