Reply to Employees reveal Google has cut the pay of WFH staff

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m federal government and we decrease pay based on where you live remotely. Except I think you can’t make more than where your work is located. Like we get the DC pay scale and you can’t be paid the nyc scale even if you’re working in nyc because we don’t need you to be in nyc. [/quote]

This is kind of the opposite of how it works. There is a base salary for your work. Then the government [i]increases[/i] pay based on cost of living where your work is located. If it's an office in DC, you get DC locality pay on top of the "base." If you go remote to a lower cost area, then you get whatever the locality pay is for that area because that's your new work location. E.g. Atlanta gets a slightly smaller COL increase than DC, and rural northern PA gets just the base.

You are right that you can't opt to get higher pay than where your office is located, because that would be a net loss to the government of having you work remotely.

[b]Honestly, none of this seems remotely unfair to me[/b].[/quote]

It does to me.  If we apply locality pay, I think we should also pay single people less.  After all, they don’t have a family to support.  Or what about people who have a working spouse?

I think an employer should pay a salary commensurate with the job and [b]job market[/b] - not the lifestyle of the employee.  [/quote]

So if I can outsource most of my functions to another country and pay 75% less, should I also give my US staff a 75% pay cut?[/quote]
DP.  Sweet pea, you are trying to operate way above your pay grade.  Maybe take an intro to economics course.  [/quote]

Cool.

Wanna answer the question, or just want to insult?[/quote]

If your company would still need some US-based employees, then you will need to pay a salary that will attract the necessary employees, even if it more than you would need to pay similar employees in another country.  If you want to outsource the rest, that is your choice.

For those US-based employees, if you need them near your physical office in a high COL area, then you need to pay huge local rate for that job.  If the job can be done remotely, you can cut costs by employing people from lower COL areas.  This is pretty basic management.

[b]I am an attorney, and have been amazed at the shortsightedness of our legal assistants and other support staff clamoring to work from home full-time.  They seem to have zero appreciation that if they demonstrate the job can be done just as efficiently fully remotely, there is no reason for us to pay DC wages for local legal assistants when we can hire people in the Midwest for a fraction of the cost[/b]. [/quote]

Because companies are inefficient and everyone knows this.  Technically anyone who works on a computer could have their job replaced via outsourcing.  Including your job.  But the reality is that it doesn’t happen. There are a variety of challenges in outsourcing work - the language barrier, time zone, culture, expense of one of these outsource workers traveling the globe to reach the home office etc.

[b]Technically most office workers just demonstrated for two years that their job could be done remotely.  [/b]Why don’t you try to save your company some money and hire legal assistants in India?   [/quote]

No, what the pandemic has demonstrated for many employers is that people can work well enough remotely in a crisis, but it often comes at some significant costs, especially if you are responsible for planning beyond the immediate moment.  Now employers are trying to balance employees’ understandable interest in working from home with the employers’ interest in recapturing what was lost during WFH.[/quote]

I'm not disputing what you say here.  I think it is likely true.  I'm wondering whether you can elaborate though?  What is missing is employers clearly articulating what was "lost."  I myself am currently part of management issuing "hybrid" policies that require less onsite work than remote, and am still getting resistance.  It is true that I have not been able to clearly articulate what was "lost".  Can you?[/quote]

Here are things that I (and many of my colleagues) feel have been lost:

1. Training and mentoring.  Our junior hires from 2019 onward are not where they should be in their professional development.  We have tried to train them remotely, but it just isn’t as effective.  I’ve done a lot of trainings in-person and virtually, and people just don’t engage the same way in virtual trainings.  Far fewer questions and discussions, even in the same presentation.  And spontaneous lunches out to get to know each other done happen at all when people work remotely.

2. Productivity and efficiency are down.  I work with billable hours, and have compared the current numbers to pre-pandemic.  The same kinds of tasks seem to be taking people at least 10% more hours now than they did pre-pandemic.  Clients notice this too and don’t want to pay for increased inefficiencies, so we are having to write off more time.

3. At the same time, burn out levels are up, and the level of burn out correlates with how much time people spend working from home rather than in the office.  This isn’t just my observation, we have survey data to show it’s the case.  Without a clear start and end to the work day, people seem to be having a harder time disengaging from work and relaxing when they have the opportunity.

4. Team building and inter-personal relationships had been negatively impacted significantly.  People simply don’t know their co-workers as well, so communications aren’t as effective and people just aren’t as attuned to when someone is overloaded with work or doesn’t seem to quite grasp a project.  People with years of experience working together pre-pandemic haven’t been experiencing this as much, but it’s been a significant issues for newer hires at all levels.

5. People who work remotely aren’t getting the same business development opportunities as those who work together in office.  If I am putting together a team to host a client relations event, I am thinking about people in my group engage with each other, because I want to bring a team that will engage with each other well and make a good impression not just individually but also as a group.  If someone hasn’t spent much time in the office, I can’t evaluate them for this purpose so they are more likely to be left out (and frankly, if I’ve never had a lunch with you to know if you have decent table manners, I am definitely not including you in a client dinner).

This is just off the top of my head.  With a little time, I could probably come up with more.[/quote]
I have several counterpoints to this post. This post feels very …boomerish. 
1. Trainings and mentoring
 - depends on the job. But even when we were in the office, some new hires would come in late, take long lunches, be texting and on their phones. You can’t really teach professional etiquette, you either adapt and do it or you get laid off.

2. Productivity and efficiency are down. 
-This is just false. Many companies have said that they’ve had increased profits and productivity the last two years. Where are you getting this data?

3. burn out levels are up 
- time management 101. take time for yourself. Schedule your time more efficiently. Take care of your mental health. Stop working until 9am-9pm. That’s impossible on a daily basis.

4. Team building and inter-personal relationships
-ugh why just why? If I’m getting the job done and on-time, why does this matter? A company isn’t your family. I’m not working to build relationships. That’s what my friends are for. No, Bob, I don’t need to drink a beer with you to hear about how your favorite sports team is doing. Just let me work and do my job so I can spend time with my real family.

5. People who work remotely aren’t getting the same business development opportunities as those who work together in office.
- again, says who? How can you measure this? They need to be in an office to be more professional and have proper business etiquette? Huh? So I need to be in a business to have proper lunch etiquette? Again, this is opinion based, not factual. [/quote]

To be honest, you sound like a low-level clock puncher, which means you are totally fungible.[/quote]

To be honest, you sound like a typical lazy boomer micromanager boss who spends their time worrying more about what their employees are doing instead of creating value for your company. Let me do my work and leave me alone. You’re not paying me to chitchat with you in a cubicle, Bill. Let me work. [/quote]

I am the person who has been giving the long explanations.  I am not the pp, although you seem to be assuming I am.  If you think my posts reflect laziness, you are sorely mistaken.  In addition to managing a full client load, I spend countless hours every week on training, mentoring and professional development for my junior team members.  I am the person you want by your side because I will put the extra hours into training you well rather than blowing you off in favor of the next new face like many of my colleagues will.  I will get to know you and your professional goals, and will give you opportunities to achieve them.  When you are up for promotion, I will put the time and effort into the working the behind-the-scenes politics to make it happen.  And when your personal life in falling to shit, I am the person who will run interference with you and put in the extra hours you can’t because I care about you having the flexibility you need to take care of the home front.  You want me to value you as an employee, because I am the person who will make sure you have every opportunity to succeed, because I will find joy in your success.  If that is of no interest to you, then keep doing what you are doing and I wish you luck.  But I will not waste my own time trying to make you care about your own career.[/quote]

I am the PP that this person responded to. I agree with this 100%. There is talent out there. It just seems like management doesn’t trust their employees. If you have that mindset, of course everyone you hire will suck, in your mind. [/quote]

Trust has to be earned through experience.[/quote]

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