Our world had a widespread impact due to the pandemic. If we look at each of the changes, we can understand the magnitude of a microscopic virus. Deaths and economic crises were the most critical points during this stage. However, various industries had different changes from others.
For example, tourism and transportation companies had one of the worst years in their history. A UNWTO study said that between January and August 2020, there were 700 million fewer tourists compared to 2019. This statistic means that the tourism industry had a substantial economic downturn, which caused layoffs and salary reductions. It’s easy to understand why a salary goes down in a pandemic, but did you know that many wages increased during the coronavirus? In this article, we analyze the impact (positive and negative) of Covid-19 on the tech industry’s salaries.
Great Historical Demand
Image credit: ThisIsEngineering (Source: Pexels.com)
The lockdown was a difficult circumstance for almost all traditional industries. Face-to-face work was considered a threat to health. Therefore, millions of workers were sent home, some laid off, and some faced salary reductions. Time at home became the perfect opportunity to use technological devices for work, study, or entertainment.
These measures allowed tech companies to invest millions of dollars in optimizing their services. For this reason, with the increase in demand, many companies were able to maintain their workers’ salaries and, in some cases, received significant increases. One of the tech companies that increased its employees’ wages was BharatPe, an Indian tech startup. In an interview with YouStory, Ashneer Grover, CEO of BharatPE, said that this increase is part of his strategy to strengthen his company’s technology and business.
Remote Work Efficiency
Teleworking was the safest alternative for many companies. These types of tasks allow employees and bosses to follow production while taking care of their health. Remote work has been the key to stability for schools and companies. However, factories cannot continue without face-to-face work; for that reason, many of these companies began to do mixed days.
Some companies have had good results with remote work. On the other hand, individual companies say that this method is not efficient for labor production, which represents a change in the workers and the company’s economic level. Working time, discipline, and loneliness are factors that tech workers must cope with. StatusPage ensures that this method is not for everyone, and they do not consider it an efficient alternative.
What to do?
It isn’t easy to think of an alternative to remote work in a context like a coronavirus. Although the tech industry proposes new ideas to create efficient systems, remote work remains a trial period for everyone. This trend is not temporary, and in fact, studies reveal that more companies will use digital platforms for their employees, and for that, tech companies will have to think of better alternatives.
Tech Hubs Wages
One of the advantages of remote work is that you can perform your tasks from anywhere globally, but will your salary be the same no matter what country you are in? For Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, the answer is no. In fact, you can’t even move from your work city unless you want to take a pay cut.
Why be so cruel? This news was controversial, but it was time to explain why Zuckerberg threatened to cut wages for those who moved to cheaper towns. Tech hubs are not only America’s capitals of innovation. In fact, they are also the most expensive places to live in. Rent, payment of household services, fuel, food, entertainment—everything is more costly in tech hubs! For this reason, companies make an effort to pay high salaries so that their employees can bear the cost of living in that city.
However, Covid-19 was the excuse to apply for remote work in thousands of companies. Working from a cheaper town does not change anything, but for Mark Zuckerberg, salaries must be adapted according to the context where you are. A fair measure.
Conclusion:
It is impossible to understand the full impact of viruses on our society. This summary only explains how tech workers had changes in their wages. The intention is to find methods that allow efficient work, safety for everyone, and a better working relationship.