[yulaow]

A thing I never understood is, what happens if, let's say, I stay in a HCOL area until I am doing interviews (eg Switzerland) and then when hired I move back instantly to a LCOL area (eg Albania): what happens now to my salary? Do I get a cut just because I decided to move?

And what if I am a digital nomad and know I want to change nation in which I stay every x months?

[noahtallen]

I think it depends on the company. Some companies (GitLab) seem to (or used to) build location into their salary calculations. Others (Automattic, where I work) don’t, or at least try not to. But even expanding that to situations where you move, both companies I mentioned state that they don’t reduce salary in general.

At Automattic, that means you would get paid the same if you started in HCOL and then moved to LCOL. But at the same time, you might theoretically start out making a bit more than average in LCOL or a bit less than average in HCOL, depending on your situation and experience.

Some more info: https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/26/how-automattic-pays-its-re...

Disclaimer: I don’t know the exact specifics of these programs, just sharing some basic info :)

[offtop5]

Even if, why not just legally live of your uncle who has an apartment in San Francisco, while you defacto live in South Alabama.

With remote jobs I don't understand why someone living in a cheaper City should get less.

[Leherenn]

It's not a matter of should. It's just that, on average, someone in a cheaper city will accept less than someone in an expensive city because what is too little to cover rent in some places allows you to live like a king elsewhere.

It's just supply and demand. Give 50k in a poor country, and (assuming there are enough qualified people), you will have quite a lot of choice. Give 50k in SF and people will be laughing at you. Why give 200k in the first instance when there's enough supply with 50k?

[offtop5]

At least in America no one who makes 50k in Alabama will be worth 200k in SF.

[segmondy]

There's nothing legal about that. If you claim that you live in SF to get SF salary but live in Alabama. You are committing tax fraud. You need to file state taxes based on your location. If you live in both places, tax forms allows you to set how long you have lived in both places. You will be earning the benefits of Alabama but paying no tax to them. That's why it's not legal, so if you wish to be legal you shouldn't lie about your location. Also your unemployment tax will be paid to SF and not to say Mobile, Alabama. Outside of taxes, different states have different rules on say over time, paternity leave, termination process, non-compete, discrimination laws that companies need to be compliant with.

You're not getting less, the world doesn't have a global currency with fixed price. It's all about earning power. If a company has an office in Alabama, and another office in San Francisco and another in Accra, Ghana. Employees won't expect to be paid the same, so why should they expect the same because they are remote?

[notsag-hn]

Agreed, globalized salaries should also consider people moving around and shouldn't depend on current location (unless of course money is not enough to live in the current location). I had an interview the other day with a local company that offered very sweet remote packages and a not-that-sweet on-site one. I said I would leave the country when I got the job and work in a digital nomad way, and they said that because of my current location I would only be offered the local package. Weird situations like this make me think we're not quite there regarding fair remote work yet