Two offers, one pays $5,000 more. The instinct is that the higher base wins, and the instinct is frequently wrong once you price the benefits.
Start with the retirement match, because it is the closest thing to free money in compensation. A 4% match on $100,000 is $4,000 a year; an offer with no match needs roughly that much more base just to tie. Vesting matters too: a match that vests over four years is worth less if you may leave in two.
Health insurance differences are bigger than most people think. Premium contributions, deductibles, and out-of-pocket maximums routinely swing $3,000 to $8,000 a year for a family between a rich plan and a thin one. Ask for the actual plan documents, not the phrase “great benefits.”
Then the quieter lines. Employer HSA contributions are direct dollars. Extra PTO has a price: each week is roughly 2% of salary. Parental leave beyond the legal floor, tuition money, and an annual bonus target versus none at all can each outweigh the $5,000 that started this comparison.
The method is to convert everything to annual dollars and add it up, once for each offer. Our offer comparison tool does the arithmetic with fields for match, benefits value, and bonus, and our take-home calculator shows what actually lands in your account. Total rewards is what you are paid; base salary is just the loudest part.
Reviewed by Michael Dennis Graham
Michael Dennis Graham is the founder of Grahall, LLC, an executive compensation consulting firm, and the author of numerous books on compensation and total rewards strategy. He has advised boards and management teams on pay design and has served as an expert on compensation matters. Articles on WePayFairly are prepared by our editorial team and reviewed for accuracy and methodology.
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