According to Fortune, workers are being told that they must work for between five and 15 per cent less to work from home, even if it save the company a fortune in expensive office space.

Companies hope that lower salaries will encourage remote workers back to the office where they can waste their time watching dull PowerPoint presentations given by middle managers who essentially have nothing to do.

What these companies are finding is that remote workers are taking the wage cut, mostly due to the fact that they are still saving money on commuting, have freedom over their time and don’t have to listen to boring lectures from middle managers talking in business speak about cheese being moved, or kicking the ball running.

Fortune notes that other employers are reversing the strategy to entice workers to come to the office at higher salaries. But then they are also having to shell out for expensive city office space which seems to be counter-productive.

According to Robert Half's 2025 U.S. Hiring Outlook, nearly half of managers anticipate challenges in meeting candidates' compensation expectations. When there is a considerable gap between salary expectations and offers, many employers are negotiating remote and hybrid work options to secure new hires.

Theresa L. Fesinstine, founder of human resources advisory peoplepower.ai, told Fortune, "There's this unspoken exchange rate between flexibility and comp, and for some candidates, it's worth a significant trade-off." This is especially true "for those who value work-life balance or are saving on commute costs."

However, offering lower salaries to job candidates, even with the benefit of remote work, carries inherent risks.

Amy Spurling, founder and CEO of employee benefits reimbursement platform Compt, warned of a potential second Great Resignation in 2025 due to hiring freezes, benefits cuts, and forced return-to-office (RTO) policies in the preceding years. "If you're trying to lowball remote workers, you're about to face a harsh reality," Spurling said. "2025 is going to be a 'find out' year for companies that thought they could use remote work or other 'perks' to replace competitive compensation and genuine employee support."

A 2024 report by PwC supports this view, forecasting a 28 per cent increase in job changes, compared to 19 per cent during the Great Resignation of 2022.

Fesinstine further argues that remote work "isn't a perk anymore, but rather a standard operating model." Therefore, presenting remote work as a benefit does not resonate well with job candidates.