How-to
How to price a total compensation offer
The components of total compensation
Total compensation is the sum of everything the role is worth in a year: base salary, target bonus or commission, the annualized value of equity, and the employer cost of benefits. Pricing an offer means assembling those pieces to a competitive market target while staying internally consistent with what comparable employees already earn.
Total compensation
Total comp = Base + Target bonus + Annualized equity value + Benefits value
Annualized equity value is the grant’s current value spread over its vesting term. Benefits value is the employer’s cost of health, retirement match, and other programs: real money candidates often overlook.
Benchmark and keep it fair
| Component | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | $150,000 | Benchmarked to level and location |
| Target bonus | $15,000 | 10% of base at target |
| Equity (annualized) | $10,000 | $40K grant over 4 years |
| Benefits value | $5,000 | Employer health and match cost |
- Benchmark base to level, function, and location, not just title
- Set the offer against your internal band, not one-off exceptions
- Check the offer for pay-equity consistency with comparable employees
- Be transparent about the equity assumptions behind its stated value
A worked example
- 1.Set the market target for the role, level, and location.
- 2.Choose a base within your internal band for that level.
- 3.Add target bonus or commission consistent with the role.
- 4.Size the equity grant and annualize its value.
- 5.Add the employer cost of benefits and present the total as one figure.
How Fintra prices offers
Fintra builds total-compensation offers from your bands and your live equity model: it pulls the grant’s current value from the cap table, annualizes it, adds benefits cost, and produces a total-rewards view. Because pay-equity analysis runs on the same data, you can check an offer against comparable employees before it goes out: competitive and consistent at once.
- Total-rewards offers assembled from base, bonus, equity, and benefits
- Equity value pulled live from the cap table and annualized
- Pay-equity check against comparable employees before you send
- Consistent with your internal compensation bands
Questions people ask
What counts as total compensation?
Base salary plus target bonus or commission, the annualized value of any equity grant, and the employer cost of benefits like health coverage and retirement match. Presenting all four is what lets candidates compare offers fairly.
How do I value equity in an offer?
Take the grant’s current value (for options, typically the current fair value; for RSUs, the share value) and spread it over the vesting term to get an annualized figure. Be transparent about the assumptions, since equity value is uncertain.
How do I keep offers consistent with pay equity?
Set each offer within your internal band for the level and check it against what comparable employees earn before sending. Running a pay-equity check on the same data prevents new hires from creating unjustified gaps.
Why present a total-rewards statement?
Because candidates compare total packages, not base alone. Itemizing base, bonus, equity, and benefits reframes offers that look lower on salary and helps candidates make an informed decision.
Keep reading
Guides
Inside Fintra
One finance briefing a week
New guides, checklists and benchmarks, by email. Unsubscribe from any issue.
Compete on total value, not just base
Assemble equity-aware offers that stay pay-equity consistent.