Google to Cut the Pay of Employees Who Continue to Work Remotely | WSWS. org

Last month, I posted how Google developed a new “Work Location Tool” to assist employees in calculating how their compensation might decrease if they relocate or work remotely. This more recent article notes that since June, roughly 10,000 of the company’s over 135,000 workers have asked for permission to work remotely on a full-time basis or relocate to a different office once the pandemic subside. Google has so far approved 85% of the requests, which can result in as high as a 25% pay cut for employees who move from high to less expensive areas. That said, the article title isn’t completely accurate since not all people who work remotely are receiving pay cuts (read the article for more on this). “Facebook, Twitter, and Microsoft also cut pay for remote employees who move to less expensive areas, while smaller companies, including Reddit and Zillow have shifted to location-agnostic pay models.” It will be interesting to see how other firms approach this topic and how these decisions impact hiring, retention, engagement, and diversity. Firms are likely to experiment with different approaches given that various surveys, such as one by Breeze, show that a segment of workers is willing to take pay cuts (from five to 25% cut) to continue working remotely.