A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses the pay gap of the virtual worker. "Many skilled at-home professionals and managers earn less than a corporate salary. Less-skilled customer-service or sales work usually pays about $8 to $15 an hour, ranging as high as $25 or more with incentives or premiums. Some companies pay by the minute or hour spent on the phone, while others pay by the shift."
The number of work at home jobs seems to be growing despite a continuing tightness in the job market. A recent HCI webcast discussed the quality of the virtual worker applicant pool, where many qualified workers are more focused on their quality of life than on their bottom line. Still, it begs the question of equity in the compensation space.
For those of you who work from home or hire a virtual talent base, what do you think? Is it fair to compensate differently based on worker location?
