b'COMPENSATIONCOMPENSATING REMOTE WORKBy Warren HeeleyTackling the longer-term issue of out-of-office workand its impact on salaries and employee retentionT he onset of the COVID-19compensated differently from officethe work locations cost of labour or cost pandemic in March of 2020 andworkers. A wide range of compensa- of living or 2) a national compensation the closing of offices for healthtion solutions have been floatedfromscale across the company.and safety reasons saw a world- aligning compensation with the locations wide move to remote working,cost of living to creating a national orOut of those companies surveyed, 34 per typically from employees homes. Onlineregional pay scale that includes cent have national compensation scales in work has become the standard over theremote workers. place and 60 per cent of those companies last 16 months, with Zoom and otherindicated they would be retaining them platforms used for business meetings Factors being evaluated include the differ- for their remote work policies. Twenty and events.ences in cost of living where employeesper cent of these companies indicated are located, HR tax issues in differentthey would be adding additional levels Now, with the threat of the pandemicprovinces and countries, and an attemptto the compensation scales because of receding, businesses are preparing forto rationalize the real costs and produc- remote work.a return to a certain level of normality.tivity comparatives of in-office versus Within the new normal for business,remote workers. These are complexDetermining policies for remote work policies on remote work remain a priorityissues that require a lot of considera- has become a must for all businesses that for company planning. Guidelines fortion, and current thoughts from expertssent employees home to work during the remote work must be clear to employeeson these questions show a great deal ofpandemic. AIRINC research confirmed as businesses restart. They need to clarifydifferent opinions. that 34 per cent of companies surveyed whether long-term remote work will bealready have remote work guidelines in permitted, how it will work and howAIRINC, a workforce consultingplace, while 32 per cent do not but are compensation will be structured. company, recently conducted researchworking on them. Clearly, companies on this topic. Emerging from their studyare attentive to this new trend. Many Critical to this process is determiningof U.S. companies are two compensationare using tight timelines (e.g., September whether remote workers will beoptions: 1) a compensation scale based on1, 2021) for restarting their business 20PERSPECTIVES Fall 2021'