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Remote - Zapier - Accountant - Entry Level
Chief
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So much to love about this one.
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How much more $$ do awards actually get you?
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Poll: who uses their lunch break to workout?
Chief
Wendys twitter interactions are pure gold.
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As a person who has been poking around at jobs, doesn’t it just sound easier for everyone? I live in a smaller metro but would love to explore opportunities I couldn’t have had before without needing to move. And I’d do it for less money because of where I live. I’d travel to you as needed and still enjoy living near my family with a good work life balance from home. You wouldn’t have to pay me to move. I’m kinda amazed employers don’t think this sounds good to them too
Years ago, I worked with a young AE who went to Duke. She was great, but the universal response she heard was, “You went to Duke to do...this?”
Chief
Funny, because I had the opposite problem. I live in NY and have had offers from agencies in other cities who want to pay me a lot less less because they are located in a city with a lower cost of living.
Then they tell me how they just haven’t been able to attract great talent and they can’t work out why. I guess you can’t have it both ways. Either we all get paid based on where we live, or based on where the company is located.
This has been the stone around the neck of jersey agencies for decades. They want to pay like you’re living in Pennsylvania, not in NYC of Eve jersey. The math doesn’t add up.
Rising Star
If you’re billing the client the same pay the employee the same.
Because they’re presumably doing the same job. Do Buffalo hours and deadlines also come with the Buffalo COL salary?
Chief
You could underpay (nyc rate) by 20-30k easy, fly the employee to meetings where and when you need them and still save a grip of cash every year.
Whether you tell them to move or not, the pay should be based on their home address.
Pro
If you need them to be in person post pandemic, say so clearly and give a target date for that- even if it changes (maybe say July 2021 but note it could change in either direction) and also say that you’ll give 30 days notice until they are expected to be there. Maybe make their official “trial period” last until then so firing them if they don’t come is easier.
Looking at this from the other direction - colleagues fleeing NYC rents as their leases expired, advice we've been given is a blend: we will be back in the office at some point (based on CDC advice), possibly March-ish 21; if you're leaving the city, signing a1-year lease in Maui is probably an unrealistic expectation, but a 3-month lease in Poughkeepsie, say, is feasible; and we as a company expect to be flexible - each individual's situation is different, so talk with your manager.
I'd think the same with new hires? If you know all-remote is off the table, don't hire that expecting to figure it out when you reopen the office.
devils advocate: most NYC executives don’t live in the city. they live on the outskirts.. so why are they paid a NYC salary?
There is no going back to ‘normal’. We are in the new normal. Welcome to the freelance economy, and work-from-home employees.
Ask yourself: If your agency was able to complete a client project in one week (rather than a year) and still charge the client the same... why on earth would you now expect your team to take one year to complete the next client project if all went well? It’s not going back to ‘normal’.
pay talent what they deserve and you’ll attract great talent.
Two issues: The idea that New York City executives live on the outskirts and somehow that makes their cost-of-living less is simply not true. Anybody who lives in New York New Jersey or Connecticut within a 60 mile radius of New York City is paying a higher cost-of-living than most of the entire United States.
The idea that companies get paid for work that is completed as a flat rate went out with the 1980s. Most advertising agencies bill by the hour now whether it be a blended rate or a rate determined by who works on the account. What you’re talking about was the way agencies got paid long ago. Today it’s based on how many hours it takes. And if the job His scopes for a certain amount of money, then the agency will take that many hours to get the money out of the client. Even if it means taking longer than it normally should take.
Hiiii! I think I partially started this debate on another thread.
Here's a part of the $ equation I'm curious about.
New York agencies command high value clients. And New York agencies hire highly skilled employees. The NYC market demands a MUCH higher skill level than smaller markets.
Let's posit an idea: we are all working in a high skill industry. a potential new hire has a proven track record of 1) working on NYC level clients 2) delivering NYC quality work
The agency's client is a multination brand looking for NYC level work, and will pay for that quality of work.
Why the fuck would Bob from Biloxi, Missouri command the same price as me? Me, having 15 years of NYC experience on national and multination campaigns. Bob's rent is cheap, but Bob has never worked on anything larger than branding for a local deli.
HCOL should impact salary to a degree. But, the quality of skilled labor needs to be taken into account.
On the flip side, if I'm a super high skilled employee and working on a bullshit client with no budget — Bob from Biloxi's skill level is all that is required. I shouldn't get paid a penny more than Bob would.
This post is loaded with assumptions. If your experience commands a higher pay check, great. Perhaps Bob worked in NYC for 15 years before moving back to Biloxi during the pandemic and has a five bedroom mansion to pay for these days...
If you charge your clients NYC fees then you pay your employees NYC wages. That’s simple math.
We’ll be going back to the office at least three or four days a week. I think creative teams work better together than remotely. But that’s just us: we’re in-house and in the Midwest. I won’t be surprised, though, if higher wage markets start calling talent here to work remotely and cheaply. Not that it’s right.
So what I’m hearing is something I wondered myself, and that’s if you happen to live in a small market, but can generate NYC quality work for large clients, then so be it. You win. I’ve been talking to people outside of advertising and the issue of pay value is bigger, since the disparity in employee output is so much less contingent on creative talent.
@PS1 Great insight from the HR perspective; one of those consequences few people visualize because it happens so gradually.
The other thing to consider here is that the cost of living around New York City has to drop. The draw of living near New York City and paying high rent or a fortune in mortgages for an average house anywhere else in the country has been blown up and I’m not sure it’s ever coming back.
I know many people will say that New York City has perks, and theater, and great restaurants, etc. but the new reality is, you can have a corporation headquartered in New York City and have employees work from all over the United States and never ever come to New York City. So tell me why New York city and its surrounding areas should continue with such a high cost of living? I know this is a bigger discussion than advertising but it seems that paying a relative fortune for food, housing and commuting, based even partially on physical proximity to manhattan, seems to in question, to say the least.
Even in this video however, it ends on the notion that this is not sustainable and really it’s a Ponzi scheme. I don’t believe this scenario in New York is like anything the city has gone through before, as in recessions etc. companies are going to reduce their on-site work staff, possibly buy up to 50% and that means they are going to have to reduce their footprint. Yes, as the video explains, this does not mean the price per foot will actually drop. But all the other income that comes from workers within the city on a daily basis is going to drop. So I truly believe that New York is going to have to change the way it handles commercial leasing, or as you said, there’s going to be an economic crisis
Hire me I will be present.