If two accountants working remotely have the same experience and billable hours, should their pay be different based on their ZIP code? I'm seeing a lot of debate lately on whether location-based pay is a relic of the past or a necessary business practice. What have you been seeing?
I’m a second-year Senior Associate in audit making $72k, and I found out that new hires are coming in at $70k. I started at $62k two years ago, so these new staff are starting at almost exactly what I make as a second-year. Is anyone else seeing this at their firm? It feels crazy that the gap has narrowed this fast.
We often hear about the six-figure milestone, but does that actually change your day-to-day reality anymore? I’m looking for some perspective from people who have seen their income grow significantly. What was the number that made your life feel easier, and was it more or less than you originally thought it would be?
I am making 47k a year right now which is not great overall but can keep me afloat right now. I have 4 years of experience in accounts Receivable, and my long term goal after clearing my debt is to save towards certification in other accounting fields to boost chances with higher paying jobs. I'm actively looking for work to get me over the 50k mark, but the options are slim at the moment. I'm in my early 30s and people are telling me I should be making more. Any advice?
My boss just asked me to take on a lead role. It’s a great title change, and it's exactly the kind of experience I’ve been looking for. The problem is there’s no raise attached to it right now. They promised a compensation review in six months, but I'm worried that’s not a guarantee. Has anyone here taken a promotion like this? Did it help your career, or did you end up overworked and underpaid?
To answer you question. If I could wave a wand and create a pay structure it would be based mainly on results. Not location or years of experience. At some point it just a judgement call by leadership on how they want to structure pay.
I have a family member who is a teacher for a cyber school. Their payrate is the same across the state even though the cost of living in the more rural areas (Pennsylvania) is much lower than the bigger cities. She lives just outside of Philadelphia. She has a higher mortgage, utilities, and groceries. Also, if I remember some of my business classes, prices for consumer goods are higher in some areas than others. The higher price is in a place where people make more money. This allows companies to be competitive in all markets as the higher price in a city like New York will mitigate any losses as the company builds a brand in the more rural areas. In a perfect world, everything would be the same across the board. This is not a perfect world.
Some companies have set comp bands based on the position and others very clearly (in job postings) state the pay varies on location. This varies from company to company. I'm currently on the receiving end of non-location based pay structure so I'm making the same comp band range as colleagues in much more expensive areas. It's great for me as I chose to live in a more affordable area. It's one of the factors people consider when deciding to move and accept work opportunities.
There is probably no perfect comp structure. Someone is always going to be better or worse off depending on circumstances. In some ways what your describing is a race to the bottom. It's unlikely big company will race to the top end of pay in that type of a system.
That's how it is for most companies
If they're remote then no. People choose where they live.