Why Exclusivity Is Killing The Job Market
Remote work does not cause offshoring. Demanding 40 hours of exclusivity does
You often hear people threaten remote workers with the same tired script: "If your job can be done from your living room, it can be shipped overseas."
This ignores basic history. In fact, it’s a lie told by employers.
Corporations offshored millions of physical, in-person factory jobs decades before office workers even had internet access. For instance, you can look at the Ireland situation in the 1980s. Essentially, the Irish were considered one of the poorest countries in the entire EU. Due to that and their extremely low corporate tax rate, the US commenced an enormous offshoring program that led to Ireland becoming a total tech powerhouse.
But enough about the history lesson. Point is, being physically present never protected manufacturing workers, just like swiping a badge at a corporate office will not protect your laptop job.
Offshoring has absolutely nothing to do with whether a role is remote. It is entirely about labor costs.
But here is the irony: Remote work and Job Stacking are actually the exact mechanisms that could *prevent* offshoring.
Let's look at what actually makes onshore workers so expensive.
It is not their skill set.
It is the corporate demand for total exclusivity.
When a company demands 40 hours of your undivided attention and forbids you from working anywhere else, they are forced to pay a massive premium to sustain your entire livelihood. This goes back to the old model of working, in which employers essentially had to be the “stewards” of their employees. They were responsible for providing them with the entirety of their living wages.
This model, as it may be obvious by now, has become unsustainable.
If companies actually wanted to retain elite domestic talent while cutting labor costs, the solution is already here:
* Remove the exclusivity requirement. If employers stopped demanding 40 hours of performative loyalty, they wouldn't have to pay a premium to own a worker's entire week.
* Embrace fractional output. A highly skilled Job Stacker will happily execute a role for less money than a traditional full-time employee demands. Why? Because we do not need a single company to fund our entire lives. We are collecting checks from multiple companies simultaneously.
* Pay for the work, not the time. By allowing asynchronous, output-based remote work, companies get the exact same elite domestic talent for a fraction of the cost, completely negating the financial incentive to offshore.
Job Stacking creates a highly efficient market. One that can actually address the current economic pitfalls we all face.
The employer gets top-tier talent for less, and the worker still maximizes their Total Compensation.
Until the system catches up to this reality, stop giving employers your exclusivity for free. They will offshore your job the second it benefits their bottom line, whether you are sitting in a cubicle or at home. Secure your own leverage, stack your income, and work entirely on your terms.
If you also feel frustrated at the state of the system and the job market, don't forget you can always book a call with me. I help people reorient themselves by employing job stacking strategies that can turn things around for all types of employees.
Until next time,
Rolf.
