Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more • Hacker News Board

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#171

Post by ajcodez » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

muse900 wrote: post #41

sametmax wrote: post #11

And if you think it's bad, it's even worse in Europe. Taking the French example: I'm an freelancer, but I used to have a contract with an American company. They gave me 3x the salary most of my French colleagues would get, while keeping the exact same social advantages (they paid me through a French branch). However, to them, the salary was twice lower than what they would have paid for the same guy in the Valley. No…

My example comes from Greece where I reside for the past 9 months. People owning touristic buisnesses on the islands are moaning about how much they need more staff and can't find any, and they are arguing why younger people tend to not work and just receive benefits instead of going to work. The argument here that they won't understand though is that, 1st they are paying very low. They are all willing to pay the min…

Interesting. When I was in Mykonos last year my server was a registered accountant but made more bartending / serving than he would make in industry.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#172

Post by Spooky23 » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

misja111 wrote: post #130

muse900 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My example comes from Greece where I reside for the past 9 months. People owning touristic buisnesses on the islands are moaning about how much they need more staff and can't find any, and they are arguing why younger people tend to not work and just receive benefits instead of going to work. The argument here that they won't understand though is that, 1st they are paying very low. They are all willing to pay the min…

Interesting, would this be a case that shows that basic income wouldn't work?

Not at all. It is a signal that with the instinct for survival removed, people will push back on hard work for low pay, as they should.

I think society would be a better place if people were paid based on the value they delivered, and not coerced into work based on the need to subsist. When employers/owners have to absorb long-term costs, they make changes.

People who work on pipes or other buried things used to often get killed or injured by collapses of mud or stone. Worker's compensation costs forced employers to put reinforced steel safety devices in the holes to mitigate.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#173

Post by vonmoltke » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #79

samsolomon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you pay for an LA Times subscription? Do you know anybody that would? The newspaper business is struggling as is. Every time a publication is blocked in Europe people complain. Ads were the answer for most online publications, but showing targeted ads now pose a legal risk. I don't know about their business ops, but I'd suspect they've done the math and decided it isn't worth the effort to change their platform…

You don't need to be not-GDPR-compliant to display ads and do user tracking. Just inform the user and give them the option to opt out of tracking / storing data. Ads won't be as optimized for the user, but they'll still be there. And of course they can offer a subscription.

> You don't need to be not-GDPR-compliant to display ads and do user tracking.

You also don't need to be tracking anything to be non-compliant.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#174

Post by morsma » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

beagle3 wrote: post #131

merinowool wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

When I was living in NYC I paid 39% federal + 13.5% state/city - that’s over 50%. Healthcare and children education not included. I was not a home owner, and my other deduction amounted to almost nothing thanks to AMT. It’s a myth that taxes in the US are low.

I make $100k in Texas and after taxes and everything including healthcare I have approximately $75k. Living in a democratic state has its price.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#175

Post by Waterluvian » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #145

Waterluvian wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been completely painless because the company is using a Canadian company to handle my salary and tax info, and they got me Canadian extended health insurance. It's actually kind of awesome. They bump up my Canadian salary to match their USD official salary any time the exchange rate goes bonkers. So the more Trump does Trump, the more I'm paid.

Other than the remote work (which I imagine can be isolating and leave you feeling less effective), that sounds like the perfect set up.

It's not for everyone. It's definitely for me. I see my family every lunch. I can just wander off and go so stuff with them if I'm not feeling it, and then just do some work at another time. I've counted all the "moments" so far in my son's life that I'm so glad I didn't miss but would have at a traditional job: 106 since February.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#176

Post by sametmax » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:45 PM UTC

dredalious wrote: post #121

sametmax wrote: post #11

And if you think it's bad, it's even worse in Europe. Taking the French example: I'm an freelancer, but I used to have a contract with an American company. They gave me 3x the salary most of my French colleagues would get, while keeping the exact same social advantages (they paid me through a French branch). However, to them, the salary was twice lower than what they would have paid for the same guy in the Valley. No…

How and where did you find a US remote job whilst being/remaining in the EU? I'm a bit in the same street as you (freelancer, Belgium, previous experience with remote work). More on topic, I hear the same in Belgium, they want someone to work 24/7 basically for free and then they are surprised that the guy they hired isn't some kind of magical being that knows every language (for some reason this goes for both natura…

> How and where did you find a US remote job whilst being/remaining in the EU?

I worked in Africa for a while, and got many American contacts there.

I also have a very high ranked stackoverflow profile, and get offers from there.

And I'm extremely active in the Python community.

I'm not actively searching a job with an american company, but if I were, I would just apply to any american job offer that interest me as I would do in France. Just be very clear on the situation. A lot of job offers seem definitive, but the people behind it are often ready to make many concessions.

> I'm not actively searching a job with an american company, but if I were, I would just apply to any american job offer that interest me as I would do in France. Just be very clear on the situation. A lot of job offers seem definitive, but the people behind it are often ready to make many concessions.

Well, most people don't understand IT at all. They can barely use their computer. What we do is very foreign to them, and they can't assess at all the difficulty of anything, or the skill of anyone.

Also, the fact something is "virtual" gives it less value. People thing that google is just a page with a button. They can't imagine the complexity behind it. Form then, the UI is the product. For them, stealing a banana is a crime, but a mp3 is ok. So your work seems easy.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#177

Post by santiagobasulto » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:46 PM UTC

https://i.imgflip.com/2dswyy.jpg

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#178

Post by gwbas1c » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:46 PM UTC

I remember working for a startup a few years back. When I joined it was kind of "scrappy," and I really couldn't negotiate for market rate. It didn't matter, though. I loved the job, and really wanted the early-stage startup experience.

A year later we were in a nicer office, and definitely not "scrappy." We interviewed a lot of candidates, and when we made an offer, it was always rejected. Why? We were too far below market rate. At the time, I still loved the job. (It was also a very short commute by bike.)

Another year later (two years after I started,) we were acquired by a large, and very profitable company. People started demanding market rate or leaving.

The point is this: People work to get paid. Crumbs work for a short period of time, but at a certain point, people's lives move on. That's when employees jump ship because they need the extra $20-50,000 / year. Many people will choose better working conditions over the highest salary possible, but the difference should be very, very minor. No one's making a lifestyle change because your office is cooler than the one down the street.

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#179

Post by justsomedude43 » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:46 PM UTC

Zeebrommer wrote: post #20

sametmax wrote: post #11

And if you think it's bad, it's even worse in Europe. Taking the French example: I'm an freelancer, but I used to have a contract with an American company. They gave me 3x the salary most of my French colleagues would get, while keeping the exact same social advantages (they paid me through a French branch). However, to them, the salary was twice lower than what they would have paid for the same guy in the Valley. No…

Can you read this article? I'm in Europe and run into a message saying "Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism." with the LA time…

I just tend to move on when I see a message like that. If you rather block access to 400-500 million people than sort out your privacy policy and how you manage sensitive data, then so be it. Stay away from such websites!

Re: Employers will do almost anything to find workers except pay them more

#180

Post by hellweaver666 » Wed, Jul 11, 2018, 1:46 PM UTC

martimarkov wrote: post #100

merinowool wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That’s factually incorrect. For example the max tax band in the U.K. is either 40 or 45 %. So you don’t give more than half of your earnings. Also every country in Europe decides how to tax ppl in that country.

But you have to pay national insurance on top of that to pay for the rapidly crumbling NHS.