Pulse Survey: Geographic Differentials in the US

There’s long been two primary compensation approaches for geographically disbursed work locations in the U.S. One, a national salary structure, in which pay is treated the same with no relation to location, or two, the application of a method to differentiate pay across locations by cost of labor or cost of living differences. With the recent proliferation of work from anywhere schemes causing a more distributed workforce than ever before, the debate over which approach to use has intensified and grown into a larger discussion about pay philosophy in the U.S. Should companies pay employees based on location, rather than focus on the job role without consideration for location? If an employee moves to a lower cost location should the pay be decreased? AIRINC’s recent survey explores how companies are grappling with this issue and what the future of compensation might look like in the U.S.