That's the thing. I'd say market rates were originally at the employer's location as that's where they'd expect people to live.

My original aim was to put across the unfairness of deliberately reducing the pay of remote workers as they're doing the same job, if they chose not to RTO.

For new hires, though, it does open a bit of a can of worms.

A more forward thinking employer, if they support remote work, might advertise a wider salary band - either to attract better talent or to deliberately target people with lower costs who choose to live/work remotely.

I guess it means an employer has to think harder about what rates they pay.

Also, though, maybe it will become more about what a job is worth irrespective of remote/in-office work as whether you're in office or remote it should make no difference.

Maybe paying people's commuting fees would become a benefit rather than a different pay grade instead.

Now I'm even more confused.