Google May Cut Salaries Of Home Workers

Staff at Google who opt to work from home indefinately after office restrictions ease, may have their salaries cut, it has been reported.

According to Reuters which has seen a company pay calculator, Google staff based in the same office before the pandemic could see different changes in pay if they switch to working from home permanently, with long commuters hit harder.

The Google move is being mirrored at rivals such as Facebook and Twitter.

Pay cuts

Facebook allows its staff to work remotely full time and relocate, but those employees may have their compensation adjusted based on their new locations.

This gives some staff the option to relocate to other US states where the cost of housing is more reasonable than it is California for example.

Twitter has also promised to allow staff to remote work indefinitely if they want.

According to Reuters, Google differs from others as it is providing its staff with an actual pay calculator that shows them the possible effects on their salaries before they choose to relocate.

But in reality, this new model could lead to some remote employees, specifically those with long commutes, having their pay cut without ever moving at all.

Location tool

Google’s Work Location Tool was reportedly launched in June.

“Our compensation packages have always been determined by location, and we always pay at the top of the local market based on where an employee works from,” a spokesperson for the company told Reuters, saying that salaries will be different between cities and states.

One anonymous employee, who usually commutes to the Google office in Seattle from a nearby county, shared with Reuters that they would probably lose 10 percent of their paycheck by working from home full time.

The employee was thinking about working remotely permanently but decided to stick with their two-hour commute because of the pay cut.

“It’s as high of a pay cut as I got for my most recent promotion. I didn’t do all that hard work to get promoted to then take a pay cut,” the staffer told the news agency.

It seems that Google staff could see their pay packets docked between 5 percent to 15 percent, depending on where they live and what office they work in.

Some Google staff told Reuters they could see pay cuts of as much as 25 percent if they moved from San Francisco to an almost as pricey area in California such as Lake Tahoe.

Office reopening

Google in April began accelerating the partial reopening of offices in the United States, and sought to get staff to return to the office at least three days a week.

But a month later in May the firm backtracked and offered staff more flexible options for working at the office or home.

It also announced that 20 percent of its workforce would be able to work from home permanently.

Last month both Google and Facebook announced they would require staff returning to the office or campus to be vaccinated.

Google also extended voluntary work from home until 18 October 2021.