> You only need to pay remote employees competitive local rates
I completely disagree. Employment is a two-way marketplace - I'm looking for an employer, and employers are bidding on what I'm selling: time, knowledge, and experience. They are bidding against not only employers local to me, but with all remote employers as well. They're free to choose someone else to work for them and I'm free to choose someone else to work for.
"Competitive local rates" are appropriate for people whose choices are local. As a developer, my choices are global. Those are very different markets.
I live in Harrison, Arkansas and I make significantly more working remotely than I could make locally. When negotiating salary at my current job, I recall my exact statement to this effect: "I'm not expecting an offer with a base salary equal to what you'd be offering me if I were in Santa Monica - but I'm also not willing to accept an offer that's the same as what I could make working for a local company. I'm confident that we'll be able to meet somewhere between those numbers."
I completely disagree. Employment is a two-way marketplace - I'm looking for an employer, and employers are bidding on what I'm selling: time, knowledge, and experience. They are bidding against not only employers local to me, but with all remote employers as well. They're free to choose someone else to work for them and I'm free to choose someone else to work for.
"Competitive local rates" are appropriate for people whose choices are local. As a developer, my choices are global. Those are very different markets.
I live in Harrison, Arkansas and I make significantly more working remotely than I could make locally. When negotiating salary at my current job, I recall my exact statement to this effect: "I'm not expecting an offer with a base salary equal to what you'd be offering me if I were in Santa Monica - but I'm also not willing to accept an offer that's the same as what I could make working for a local company. I'm confident that we'll be able to meet somewhere between those numbers."