Don’t let location-based salaries stall pay equity and diversity goals

Does paying people who do the same work different salaries, according to their location, help or hinder the effort to achieve pay equity and workplace diversity?

Before the pandemic hit in 2020, the number of companies offering employees the option to work remotely had been steadily gaining ground but still applied to a relative few. The pandemic forced a worldwide experiment in remote work, and the verdict is in — for jobs that don’t require an onsite presence, remote work works.

But as HR teams prepare for a post-pandemic future that includes hybrid and all-remote workforces, they’ll have to address the location-based salary question. It’s already being debated along these lines: does paying people who do the same work different salaries, according to their location, help or hinder the effort to achieve pay equity and workplace diversity?