Remote First at Brex • Hacker News Board

Re: Remote First at Brex

#11

Post by nrmitchi » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:08 PM UTC

> What happens to my compensation if I move? Brex pays by geographic market, so we will ultimately adjust an employee’s Total Compensation Value (TCV) if they relocate to where pay rates are different. However, for current Brex employees who relocate before Sep 1, 2021, Brex will not make any compensation adjustments until Sep 1, 2024 to help each of us manage through the unusual circumstances associated with COVID-19. Standard relocation compensation adjustments will apply immediately for all employees who start at Brex after Sep 1, 2020.

There are many different thoughts around the "right way" to do compensation adjustments in a remote-first world, but 4 years feels like way to long to have to deal with an SF->local pay discrepancy existing within teams.

If someone was to join Brex in 2022, it would feel very weird to learn that their peer on the same team, in the same geographic region, is still getting their SF based comp package, but hasn't lived there in 2 years.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#12

Post by Aperocky » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:13 PM UTC

mStreamTeam wrote: post #9

Aperocky wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make sense.. offices are not being used while staff is as productive (probably not as happy though? but that's case by case) at home. A lot of offices may go bankrupt in the coming years, even when this whole thing is over.

Its just interesting to see all these layoffs and cost cutting measures right after they raised a ton of money. In case you are unaware, Brex's business model is to lend money to startups. The kicker is they lend money to startups that banks and investors won't touch. They advertise themselves as a tech company but in reality they are closer to a high risk VC firm.

At this current time that doesn't feel like a sound business model.. but I could be wrong. It also seems that they won't need so many people? The VC firms I know are all capital heavy and very light on staff.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#13

Post by whalesalad » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:15 PM UTC

I remember interviewing here and being bummed when they were 110% strictly no remote. Not surprised to see the about face here based on current events, but based on my experience it is a little surprising.

Without saying anything disparaging I do not imagine it is a pleasant place to work.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#14

Post by Sebguer » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:25 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #5

This isn't really related at all, but I've always considered "Brex" to be a strange name considering https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bre-X

I expect a lot less thought (and research) goes into most startup names than you'd think.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#15

Post by mStreamTeam » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:26 PM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #12

mStreamTeam wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its just interesting to see all these layoffs and cost cutting measures right after they raised a ton of money. In case you are unaware, Brex's business model is to lend money to startups. The kicker is they lend money to startups that banks and investors won't touch. They advertise themselves as a tech company but in reality they are closer to a high risk VC firm.

At this current time that doesn't feel like a sound business model.. but I could be wrong. It also seems that they won't need so many people? The VC firms I know are all capital heavy and very light on staff.

They were able to raise money from investors selling themselves as a tech company. Now that they have the money, they dont need the engineers anymore which explains the layoffs and downsizing.

Brex feels like an attempt to gamble with someone else's money. They raised a ton of capital and now they are going to use it to invest in high risk startups.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#16

Post by devmunchies » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:28 PM UTC

nrmitchi wrote: post #11

> What happens to my compensation if I move? Brex pays by geographic market, so we will ultimately adjust an employee’s Total Compensation Value (TCV) if they relocate to where pay rates are different. However, for current Brex employees who relocate before Sep 1, 2021, Brex will not make any compensation adjustments until Sep 1, 2024 to help each of us manage through the unusual circumstances associated with COVID-1…

I would just consider it a perk of having started at the company earlier, like having more vested stock.

What sucks though is if you started at the same time as another employee in SF, but you are in the SLC office and are stuck on a lower relative pay band for 4 years.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#17

Post by devmunchies » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:33 PM UTC

mStreamTeam wrote: post #15

Aperocky wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At this current time that doesn't feel like a sound business model.. but I could be wrong. It also seems that they won't need so many people? The VC firms I know are all capital heavy and very light on staff.

They were able to raise money from investors selling themselves as a tech company. Now that they have the money, they dont need the engineers anymore which explains the layoffs and downsizing. Brex feels like an attempt to gamble with someone else's money. They raised a ton of capital and now they are going to use it to invest in high risk startups.

> selling themselves as a tech company

They built a lot of the underlining infra for their Brex Cash product.

> use it to invest in high risk startups

Don't they require you to pay back the balance at the end of every month? And you're not aloud to go over a percentage of whats in your bank account. These restrictions limit the risk.

Re: Remote First at Brex

#18

Post by gyulai » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:34 PM UTC

For a remote company to adjust pay to employee's geography: so not cool.

Offering remote and paying people based on what they're worth to the company: Part of the solution! (The problem being: Structural deficits in certain regions yield lack of adequately-compensated employment opportunities for the highly-skilled. This makes the highly-skilled relocate. This makes it difficult to overcome structural difficulties).

Offering remote and paying people based on where they are: Part of the problem!

Re: Remote First at Brex

#19

Post by mStreamTeam » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:41 PM UTC

devmunchies wrote: post #17

mStreamTeam wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They were able to raise money from investors selling themselves as a tech company. Now that they have the money, they dont need the engineers anymore which explains the layoffs and downsizing. Brex feels like an attempt to gamble with someone else's money. They raised a ton of capital and now they are going to use it to invest in high risk startups.

> selling themselves as a tech company They built a lot of the underlining infra for their Brex Cash product. > use it to invest in high risk startups Don't they require you to pay back the balance at the end of every month? And you're not aloud to go over a percentage of whats in your bank account. These restrictions limit the risk.

Every bank builds their own infrastructure, yet I've never heard a bank advertise themselves as a tech company...

Re: Remote First at Brex

#20

Post by kag0 » Mon, Sep 14, 2020, 10:41 PM UTC

nrmitchi wrote: post #11

> What happens to my compensation if I move? Brex pays by geographic market, so we will ultimately adjust an employee’s Total Compensation Value (TCV) if they relocate to where pay rates are different. However, for current Brex employees who relocate before Sep 1, 2021, Brex will not make any compensation adjustments until Sep 1, 2024 to help each of us manage through the unusual circumstances associated with COVID-1…

Can someone explain the rationale behind geographically based pay in remote-first companies?

I don't necessarily disagree with it, but I don't know what aspects of the issue companies are actually looking at to decide that geo-based pay is the way to go.