The line items most people never add up, from equity to parental leave

Base pay gets compared more than anything else, yet it tells you the least. Deloitte's 2025 study of 7,500 women revealed that only 5% plan to stay with their current employer beyond five years, which means a San Antonio professional may well be fielding another job offer before long. Learning to total up the full package now pays off later.

Picture a competing offer that tops yours by $20,000 on base salary. For example, if a $200,000 salary carries a 20% bonus target rather than 10%, that alone is worth $20,000 annually, and a 6% retirement match in place of 3% contributes another $6,000. The smaller figure can come out ahead before you have even reached the second page of the letter.

Trial

Weigh the lesser bid. Go through each item and tally how many you can honestly answer with a yes.

First A bonus target represents a bigger slice of base pay, and the firm met or beat that target in both of the last two years.

Second The retirement match is richer, vests faster, or both.

Third There is equity, and you understand the vesting schedule, the strike price or most recent valuation, and what happens to unvested shares if your position is eliminated.

Fourth Leave for new parents or caregivers runs longer and is paid in full, and employees at your career stage truly take advantage of it.

Fifth Compared with the other offer, the title and manager position both rank one step higher.

Sixth The remote or hybrid arrangement appears in the written offer letter, not just as a verbal assurance.

Seventh Health coverage costs less per month once premiums, deductibles and family coverage are factored in.

Eighth Vacation and personal days are more plentiful, and the interviewers you meet genuinely use theirs.

Ninth Because the pay range stretches beyond your starting figure, your next two increases will not hit a ceiling right away.

Tenth A signing payment or retention award compensates for what leaving costs you, like forfeited bonuses or equity that hasn't vested yet.

Reading your score

0 to 3: Whichever figure is higher is the one to go with. Put plainly, the smaller offer amounts to less money overall. Take the base salary and push for improvements elsewhere, because the difference you calculated gives you leverage.

4 to 6: Closer than it appears. The $20,000 difference is likely real, but much of what the smaller offer includes carries meaningful value as well. Assign a dollar value to every yes and set the two sums next to each other. Plenty of people discover the gap is less than $5,000 in the first year and flips in their favor by year three.

A 7 to 10 score indicates the lower offer is actually the more valuable one. What you're truly weighing is a better-structured package sitting behind a lower headline salary. Since base salary is the easiest figure to negotiate, begin your push there.

Actions to take now

If your score landed between 0 and 3, go back to the lower offer and tell them: "I'd like to accept, and I need the base to reach X for the move to work." The only thing you can lose is a single number.

If you scored 4 to 6, build a two-column sheet pricing every line, then ask each employer one question: "Is there room to improve on the line where you're behind?" The employer who answers with a figure is showing you how much they want you.

If you scored 7 to 10, accept the richer package and ask that part of the base gap be closed in cash now, with the rest handled at a dated review. "Would it be possible to pay half of that at signing and reconsider the rest after six months?"

Which of the two offers came out ahead for you, and were you caught off guard by the outcome? Share your experience with us.