#Stripe employees took 10% pay cuts to leave NYC, San Francisco

Silicon Valley’s most valuable startup told employees they could leave its offices in New York and San Francisco to work remotely from cheaper locales, and many took the deal — despite the catch that they’d be forced to take a 10-percent salary cut.

Stripe, an online payments company valued at $95 billion, said in September that workers who moved to work elsewhere permanently would get a one-time bonus of $20,000 but also a permanent salary cut.

Now, the company’s CEO says many of the company’s 4,000-plus workers took the deal.

“We saw pretty major uptake,” said Stripe co-founder and president John Collison in a Bloomberg TV interview on Tuesday. “There were a lot of people who took advantage of all the remote working that was going on last year to be able to move to be closer to their families, to somewhere they wanted to move previously.” 

Collison did not provide an exact number in the interview, and Stripe did not immediately reply to a request for comment. 

Stripe, which is headquartered in both San Francisco and Dublin, was founded by Collison and his brother Patrick and has allowed some employees to work remotely since 2013.

But while Stripe got an early start, it’s far from the only tech firm to embrace remote work.

Most Twitter employees will be allowed to work remotely forever — apparently without a pay cut — CEO Jack Dorsey said last year. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg has told his company’s 40,000-plus employees that the company plans to let some employees work remotely but will slash salaries for workers in less-expensive areas. 

“There’ll be severe ramifications for people who are not honest about this,” Zuckerberg warned last year. 

Apple, meanwhile, plans to require employees to report to work in person three days per week. In response, a group of employees circulated an angry letter in May condemning the decision.

“Without the inclusivity that flexibility brings, many of us feel we have to choose between either a combination of our families, our well-being, and being empowered to do our best work, or being a part of Apple,” the note read.