Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why companies shouldn't use it to base employees salaries on (GitLab I'm looking at you).
In general I don't like the approach of remote employers basing compensation off of the employees cost of living. What happens at gitlab if you start off in SF then move to another city? You're a remote employee and are free to work wherever... Do they then demote your pay to reflect the new city or did you just game the system? What about the opposite case, a worker in India at gitlab moving to SF did they just lose…
Zapier does indexed compensation by region. E.g. They pay employees in Asia less than employees in America.
This is actually the worst of both worlds. They are paying over the market rate in some countries and under the market in others. Some of their employees are raking it in, others not so much.
What's fair or desirable about that?