Moving away, don't expect the same pay.

Since 2020, moving away from the big cities and setting up camp in more picturesque, affordable lifestyle focused towns and cities has become much more normalised. In fact rural population growth actually matched the population increases of the big cities of Melbourne and Sydney. Brisbane saw a 2.3% population increase, largely down to affordability, better weather and it still having the 'big city lifestyle' but less of the commuting stress.

It's not all so easy though, as workers migrate north or south, the opportunity for employment in those local regions naturally dwindles. Many workers moved on the pretense that their employers would allow remote working, maintain their city salary and allow for a more flexible working life.

This has largely held true during the candidate shortages of 2021/22 and into 2023, helped by the extremely stubborn unemployment rate of 3.7% and businesses seeing the tailwind of the economic boom. However in more recent times and especially over the past 3 months since my return to recruitment, we have seen a trend toward a mandatory return to office, leaving many remote workers wondering what it means for them and their careers. Many questions will now be asked on whether remote working will still have a place at the table as businesses look to bring back staff, cut travel budgets and try to maintain an office culture that people want to be a part of.

In this article I've written some thoughts on the positives and drawbacks of the rural move, to try and answer the question as to whether it is fair on your co-worker to live rurally, reap the benefits of the bigger house, better lifestyle and same salary or whether this is a choice all of us can make, if we choose.

To talk positively:

Working remotely has traditionally allowed employees to strike a healthier work-life balance, being able to jump up and head to the beach, take in the rural locations beauty and give your mind a sense of calm and relaxation it needs before the day really begins. It can lead to increased job satisfaction and reduced stress levels.

The big reason as to why many people decided to move rurally is down to cost. According to CoreLogic, the average house price sits at over $1.3m whereas for example the Sunshine Coast sits at just under $1m. Couple this with the fact that generally speaking you'll be buying more land to enable you to bring up a family with more space and a potentially better quality of living, it becomes quite an enticing prospect.

Not only does the cost of buying/renting your house become much more affordable but so do everyday purchases such as groceries, utilities and that morning coffee! Finder has created an excellent cost of living comparison to highlight the vast differences between cities and rural locations.

Another highlight of working remotely is that COVID taught us that there's really no impact on job performance by working remotely. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that remote work doesn't negatively affect job performance. Employees can still contribute effectively from remote locations. If you're a top talent, there's no question to be asked on performance.

Now the drawbacks:

One of the major factors here, and something that I have seen firsthand when travelling the coast is that there is a real impact on local communities. The influx of remote workers into rural areas can drive up prices for housing and goods, impacting local residents. This phenomenon can create resentment and strain community relations, it was clear from my time in Byron that the influx of tourism and people migrating to the beautiful coastal town was driving locals out on affordability alone. The teacher I spoke to (and apologetically bought a few schooners for) spoke of his anguish at being forced to leave the house he had rented for over 20 years due to the sharp increase in prices, driven by demand rapidly outstripping supply.

Seeing the human impact of city salaries and ability to drive out locals on cost alone is quite frightening, it creates a false economy of highly inflated rental/sale prices and naturally gentrifies areas much more rapidly than the local community can keep up with. The locals can resent the 'city slickers' and 'yuppies' moving to their town as the life they've known forever gets unaffordable to attain.

Not only does the affect on the local communities cause long-term rifts but also can we argue that professional progression is stifled by not being in the office, interacting and collaborating more with colleagues and the wider business. The very meaning of the word remote is "situated far from the main centres of population; distant." How can you develop to your full potential if you're isolated and not able to contribute to the small things that may make the difference?

It's also crucial that remote workers are creating a balance between life and work, during COVID the lines blurred so much as we were stuck inside usually working from bedrooms or makeshift offices. It saw a huge spike in mental health issues as we distorted the lines between working to live and living to work. Creating a balance is key for anyone remotely working, knowing the lines and setting boundaries to ensure no burnout is pivotal.

In conclusion:

So the question is, if you're looking to take the rural road and move away from the competition and hustle of the big cities then do you earn the right to be paid the same as those that stick it out and have to pay the higher city prices for housing, utilities, amenities? Is it arrogant to ask for the same salary or fair based on your experience?

It's a question I don't know the answer to but one thing I have found is that very few if any of the clients that I work with are willing to accept applications from solely remote candidates, the unknown quality of the candidates and move toward the return to the office means that it's a risk they cannot accept in a tightening economic market. I've had too many conversations to count with candidates in these positions, they're struggling to come to terms with the idea that a drop in pay may be the only way to be an employable asset to a business.

Being a remote worker is increasingly becoming a drawback for many hiring managers and businesses in Australia, it's difficult to quantify the drop off of advertisements for remote work but the noise, conversations and briefings that I take in my world would lead me to suggest that across the board it will become tougher for remote workers to maintain the same salary levels as they did do whilst working in the city. Has moving away made candidates less of an attractive proposition? Are candidates seen to have lost the competitive edge by being out of the epicenter or is it just the market rebalancing after a long period of candidates calling the shots? We'll see over the coming years, that's for sure!

If anyone is stuck, looking for that next move and needs some advice, always feel free to reach out to me on [email protected] for a confidential conversation.