Working remotely is a skill. I negotiate my compensation based on all of the skills that I bring to the table. So should any prospective client/employer.
Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
71–80 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#72I would think the company benefits from a purely financial point of view because they don't need to provide an office or any of the other amenities that go with one.
I personally hate working remotely. Most people don't though so it is viewed as a perk. I've interviewed people before who applied solely because we offered remote. Some of them even lived within a pretty easy commute to the office.
And along the same lines, it's not a great idea to respond to "why are you interested in working with us?" with "because it's remote" even if you really love remote work.
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#73Because I'm firmly in the remote-first camp from my point of view remote should never be considered a perk or something that's graciously granted to you but rather the default case while on-premise work should only be required if or when it's truly necessary. I know that many companies are far from that assumed ideal situation but that's the way it should be in my opinion.
There of course also is an objective negotiation angle to this. You could calculate your personal cost of commuting to their office every day and add that on top of your usual rate. Then you could go down by that amount when asked that question during negotiations.
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#74Because I'm firmly in the remote-first camp from my point of view remote should never be considered a perk or something that's graciously granted to you but rather the default case while on-premise work should only be required if or when it's truly necessary. I know that many companies are far from that assumed ideal situation but that's the way it should be in my opinion. There of course also is an objective negotia…
Bingo - you would think in an industry like tech this would be the common belief. Head into the office on days when meetings/ in-person collaboration / brainstorming /planning etc is cirtical. Spend the rest of the time remote (which is realistically about 80% of the time). IMO there is no reason - especially in tech - you need to be in the office every day. I say 50/50 is a good starting point. Can you imagine the traffic relief not to mention the stress relief (and health benefits of this) if this was common?
This is especially true in the bay area!
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#75Because I'm firmly in the remote-first camp from my point of view remote should never be considered a perk or something that's graciously granted to you but rather the default case while on-premise work should only be required if or when it's truly necessary. I know that many companies are far from that assumed ideal situation but that's the way it should be in my opinion. There of course also is an objective negotia…
Bingo - you would think in an industry like tech this would be the common belief. Head into the office on days when meetings/ in-person collaboration / brainstorming /planning etc is cirtical. Spend the rest of the time remote (which is realistically about 80% of the time). IMO there is no reason - especially in tech - you need to be in the office every day. I say 50/50 is a good starting point. Can you imagine the t…
> Can you imagine the traffic relief not to mention the stress relief (and health benefits of this) if this was common?
Indeed, traffic is a major aspect of this. Remote work is the key to solving the traffic problems in large cities around the world.
Non-remote work also incurs ridiculously high costs both in terms of necessary public (railways, roads, parking space) and private (office buildings) infrastructure costs and hidden costs such as those caused by health issues and opportunity costs caused by the huge amount of wasted human lifetime.
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#76[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#77I wouldn't negotiate down because of a remote position. That's garbage. I mean sure, you're saving on commute, but what would that ultimately save you in gas money? $50-100/mo? That's $1200.
In office work = free coffee, work laptop, social interaction, and sometimes free food. Pretty sure that greatly outweighs $1200.
And it's not like you're going to get the time you spent commuting back. Likely their expectation would be that you work through those hours. So. Nope.
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#78Everything comes down to each parties BATNA [0]. If the employer values on site employees more than remote then they will offer less (all other things being equal), if they value remote workers as being more valuable then they will offer more. The same applies to the employee.
The cost of living of where you live is not the employer's concern. Everything comes down to supply and demand.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiat...
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#79"I really struggled to come up with a response to this."
When faced with a request of the form 'can you please do X because of justification Y', people are by default more willing to do X than if there was no stated justification. If they refuse, they feel compelled to explain why justification Y doesn't apply.
But there's no need.
If the rate you've quoted is reasonable given the market, then just say so.
Re: Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?
#80When you hear this, you say: "I appreciate your position, but I just can't find a business reason to justify lowering my rates."
Ultimately, it comes down to this. Do they view you as a someone special, a person who can really deliver value in a unique way, or do they view you as a commodity?
If they view you as a commodity, they'll try to pull all sorts of stunts like this one. But if there's a special bond, they will respect your rates and try harder to get you onboard.
So perhaps if you are getting asked this question, it's because they're too lazy to learn more about you and haven't really figured out that special thing you bring to the table. There isn't enough of a relationship yet.