New alternative work arrangements during COVID-19 are prompting employers to rethink compensation and benefit strategies, according to results of a recent Willis Towers Watson (WTW) survey.
HR Dive reported Wednesday that with significantly more employees working from home roughly half of survey respondents said these changes could eventually necessitate a hybrid reward model, which for some organizations may include paying employees based on where they are located.
While 61% of respondents said that next year, they’ll pay remote workers the same as in-office employees regardless of location, more than a quarter (26%) said pay will be based on the location of remote workers for all jobs, WTW said. Nearly two in 10 respondents (18%) said they set pay levels by first determining the market value of an employee’s skills and then applying a geographic differential.
While it remains to be seen just how common geographic differentials may become, employees have previously expressed a willingness to take a pay cut in exchange for the ability to work remotely, according to HR Dive. In a 2018 FlexJobs survey, nearly 30% of respondents said they would take a wage cut to telecommute. Similarly, in a 2019 Owl Labs survey, 34% of survey respondents said they would take a pay cut of up to 5% to work remotely; 24% said they’d take a 10% cut.
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