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Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

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Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#31

Post by Loic »

stavros wrote: post #4

I completely don't get location-based pay. I provide you with some work, that's worth some amount of money. Why does my location change the value of my work? Do I suddenly become better if I move to SF? I get that some people have arguments for it, I just entirely disagree that any of them are valid. Whether I'm in a city that costs a lot to live in is no more the responsibility of my employer than whether I like to…

BATNA: Best alternative to a negotiated agreement.

HCOL: High Cost of Living.

For the poor minds like me outside of San Francisco.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#32

Post by OJFord »

stavros wrote: post #4

I completely don't get location-based pay. I provide you with some work, that's worth some amount of money. Why does my location change the value of my work? Do I suddenly become better if I move to SF? I get that some people have arguments for it, I just entirely disagree that any of them are valid. Whether I'm in a city that costs a lot to live in is no more the responsibility of my employer than whether I like to…

When you're shopping for something, do you pay what you think it's worth, or just the cheapest you can find (within some level of effort that may be just buying the first one, depending what it is)?

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#33

Post by LAC-Tech »

ehnto wrote: post #12
stavros wrote: post #4

I completely don't get location-based pay. I provide you with some work, that's worth some amount of money. Why does my location change the value of my work? Do I suddenly become better if I move to SF? I get that some people have arguments for it, I just entirely disagree that any of them are valid. Whether I'm in a city that costs a lot to live in is no more the responsibility of my employer than whether I like to…

I don't disagree that it's silly but the common misconception is that salary is based on some kind value exchange, it's not. Salary is the minimum amount of money it will take to get someone to work for you. Of course there are exceptions, but most salaried workers are not the exception. Maybe that price gets driven up because of HCOL, or maybe it gets driven up by market competition, or skills scarcity (putting the…

It has nothing to do with cost of living. At all.

I live in New Zealand, cost of living here is insane. Local salaries are not.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#34

Post by bryanrasmussen »

dgellow wrote: post #30
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If I buy something from an online store, I pay the same no matter where I live. that is probably incorrect. Lots of places charge different based on location.

Isn't it mostly due to different taxes, or when the product is in part manufactured locally (so different costs)?

often, but there are solutions out there to allow you to set a location based price - generally based on analysis of what the market in the area will pay - for example here https://www.optimum7.com/blog/programming-2/location-based-p... you can do it but it is frowned up but as they say here:

"The functionality works like a charm, which is exactly how Amazon or Staples.com works! You get to sell the same product at different prices for different geographical locations.

During the location-based pricing process, we realized that no matter how frowned upon a system like this may be, your business needs what it needs."

which I mean, what your business needs is money, amirite!?

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#35

Post by jmchuster »

tails4e wrote: post #26

I have to say I am constantly amazed at how high silicon Valley renumeration is. 600k to 1M would get you a lot of engineers pretty much anywhere else. Even if we don't look at the higher end, 200k is very common it would seem, and that would get you 2x engineers is Europe. Im in Europe and I've seen the quality of engineering is no different; the SV engineers perform the same (and some much worse), but still hiring…

The top companies make over a million in revenue per employee.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#36

Post by checker659 »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #33
ehnto wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree that it's silly but the common misconception is that salary is based on some kind value exchange, it's not. Salary is the minimum amount of money it will take to get someone to work for you. Of course there are exceptions, but most salaried workers are not the exception. Maybe that price gets driven up because of HCOL, or maybe it gets driven up by market competition, or skills scarcity (putting the…

It has nothing to do with cost of living. At all. I live in New Zealand, cost of living here is insane. Local salaries are not.

I live in Kathmandu, Nepal. Same here. A cousin of mine in Seattle bought a similar sized home for less than what one of my relative spent in Kathmandu.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#37

Post by steenreem »

I imagine there's a lot of value in having your employees share a timezone for the benefit of easy cooperation, so it might make sense to have at least timezone-dependent salaries.

There might also be value in having your employees be able to easily physically meet, and then location-dependent salaries make sense.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#38

Post by LAC-Tech »

checker659 wrote: post #36
LAC-Tech wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has nothing to do with cost of living. At all. I live in New Zealand, cost of living here is insane. Local salaries are not.

I live in Kathmandu, Nepal. Same here. A cousin of mine in Seattle bought a similar sized home for less than what one of my relative spent in Kathmandu.

Americans really don't know how good they have it.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#39

Post by ihateolives »

checker659 wrote: post #36
LAC-Tech wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has nothing to do with cost of living. At all. I live in New Zealand, cost of living here is insane. Local salaries are not.

I live in Kathmandu, Nepal. Same here. A cousin of mine in Seattle bought a similar sized home for less than what one of my relative spent in Kathmandu.

Care to elaborate, share some details? This is really interesting comparison. What does N amount get you in Seattle and what in Kathmandu? How about other things, is this for general COL or just real estate? Because real estate prices often have life of their own, not always tied to, say, price of bread.

Re: Our vision for location-independent salaries at Buffer

#40

Post by stavros »

ehnto wrote: post #12
stavros wrote: post #4

I completely don't get location-based pay. I provide you with some work, that's worth some amount of money. Why does my location change the value of my work? Do I suddenly become better if I move to SF? I get that some people have arguments for it, I just entirely disagree that any of them are valid. Whether I'm in a city that costs a lot to live in is no more the responsibility of my employer than whether I like to…

I don't disagree that it's silly but the common misconception is that salary is based on some kind value exchange, it's not. Salary is the minimum amount of money it will take to get someone to work for you. Of course there are exceptions, but most salaried workers are not the exception. Maybe that price gets driven up because of HCOL, or maybe it gets driven up by market competition, or skills scarcity (putting the…

People making this argument forget it works both ways. Why would I go to the company that does COL adjustments and pays me less than the one that doesn't?
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