A digital nomad working remotely for a UK-based company just discovered they lost £17,000 over three years — and their employer is refusing to make up the difference.
The culprit? A contract denominated in local currency with no protection against exchange rate fluctuations.
This cautionary tale from r/digitalnomad should be required reading for anyone working remotely through an Employer of Record (EOR) like Deel, Remote, or Rippling.
How the Loss Happened
The worker was hired at £50,000 for a role with a UK organization. Because they live in Kenya, their contract was processed through Deel and denominated in Kenyan shillings at whatever the exchange rate was on the contract signing date.
The problem: "Nobody ever explained what would happen if the exchange rate moved."
It moved. Dramatically.
The British pound appreciated over 34% against Kenyan shillings in 2023 alone. While the employer gave two raises during this period, those raises were calculated in local currency — meaning they didn't account for the massive exchange rate shift.
Every month, the payslip looked fine in shillings. But when converted back to pounds — the currency the role was originally benchmarked in — "I was being paid less and less every single month."
The Spreadsheet That Changed Everything
After nearly three years, the worker finally built a detailed analysis: "Month by month, every payslip, mid-market exchange rates from XE for every payment date."
The result:
