[wetjen]

Nothing new here.

Worker compensation in Corporate America has a cost of living adjustment (COLA) multiplier. It’s calculated as part of the salary base and takes into consideration the location of the worker, among other things, in adjusting up or down offered compensation.

Google is simply making this transparent to workers. Just because someone was hired in a high COLA multiple location doesn’t mean they’ll keep that multiple when they voluntarily relocate to a low COLA area.

This is standard HR practice across all of Fortune 500.

[TulliusCicero]

Not cost of living. Cost of labor. These correlate a fair amount, but not 100%.

[musingsole]

> This is standard HR practice across all of Fortune 500.

And it's gross.

[wetjen]

It’s not gross.

It’s an approach to effectively price human capital in disparate markets.

By example, it’s unfair to expect workers in New York to work at the wages of workers in Des Moines.