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Comment by antouank | Hacker News Reader

By accepting remote work, they open the candidate pool to the whole world. You compete with people having potentially much lower living costs. Why would they pay "market rate" if they are in a city with high rates?

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There are challenges and costs employing remote workers in significantly different timezones. So you mostly compete with other workers in nearby timezones.

I live in France and work East Coast hours. My time zone is my problem, not the employer's. The 'boss' needs me for a 6pm Eastern Time meeting? I'll be there. If I am employee, I work when I am needed; my location shouldn't be their concern.

Most people are not excited to work super weird hours. More power to you, I guess, but I wouldn't be pleased to be asked to attend a meeting at midnight.

I actually have a fairly unpopular view on market rate. I tend to look at the U.S. as a whole for determining what constitutes fair compensation. This is strictly regarding developer and tech employee pay.

I don't take location into account at all. If you want to save money and live in the middle of nowhere then go for it. You should have the exact same pay as the person in SF doing the exact same thing as you.

Because the opportunity for abuse is very high. You've got to hire motivated talent and that costs more.

Personally I think a big factor is the kind of work involved. I'm a home-based security consultant and I'm pretty motivated to deliver as I know that each engagement is pretty short and there's a clear deliverable at the end of each one.

More vague work can be trickier, but I still think home working can work for a lot of people...

I don't really know, but they do.

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