Whether or not one agrees with him... It's not really inconsistent to pay people at the top range but that comes with an expectation of being shown the door if they don't perform at the top levels and coming into an office to work because that's better for the company (in Hastings' view).
For 500k a year I'd be more than willing to show up at an office.
I assume they're spending money on testing and whatever protocols they need to enforce to ensure they don't kill / incapacitate their golden legion of software engineers. And when you're making that much money, it becomes much easier to (for example) have someone else do your grocery shopping.
There are certainly mitigations like lots of retail stores are doing. They're obviously not as effective as people just staying home. It's a matter of tradeoffs.
> I assume they're spending money on testing and whatever protocols they need to enforce to ensure they don't kill / incapacitate their golden legion of software engineers.
If it's anything like my experience and anecdotal experiences from my friends, then they're just giving you the illusion of safety and not actually providing a safe working space.
It's expensive to actually implement useful COVID measures (but not impossible and not necessarily illusory), but if you already have such huge employee expenses and are serious about in person work, I can't imagine you wouldn't spend the money and put the work in.
I agree with you that shops with less luxurious budgets would have a difficult time doing anything that meaningfully reduces the risk to their employees and should probably stay home.
