|
|
|
|
|
|
by washadjeffmad
1111 days ago
|
|
|
That's just describing the current practice of market pricing, not explaining why Mountain View comp is higher than Alabama or elsewhere (ie- why comp is not actually a function of COL + base pay). Given two people performing the same work that Google derives the same value from, if that value is not dependent on either person's location, then how does Google justify the differential in pay? Unless they're just pre-assigning a universal value of worth to geographic areas, then what's the logic for their compensation at all? If they reduced overall salaries or moved locations, wouldn't it counter the very situation you described - a la expensive chicken? Wouldn't it be more efficient move to Alabama where not only their expenses would be lower, but their employees'? Why not split Google into entities across the nation to balance comp and uplift more areas? If your logic were true, it wouldn't make any sense to hire people who lived in "expensive" areas. Because we know that's not what they're doing, it could be interpreted that Google is still taking advantage of largely manufactured inequality, even domestically. Google does work through Alphabet-adjacent sub-corps that are only legally 'not-Google' that do work exclusively for Google. Several exist in my area, and they pay no more competitively than any other company for the same roles. Talking with their engineers, they're largely just happy that their H1B was approved and that they're not working for Amazon. |
|
|
Because the pay is independent from the value the person is generating. It is just the amount someone is willing to accept to take the job. The amount Google pays is based off what other employers are able to offer people living in the area. They gather market data of offers made by the other employers and themselves and then choose a range that they are willing to pay hoping that paying an upper percentile will attract top talent.
>Why not only higher from LCOL areas
The two main factors are that Google wants to hire top talent and they want to have people come in to their offices which may recide in a HCOL area. For why not to split up the offices I imagine there are due to some underlying network effects with having coworkers be at the same location and partner companies being a short ways away.