Field guide · Compensation
Read a tech package as several different things.
Annual pay, owned investments and future awards answer different questions. Keeping them separate makes a conversation clearer.
Sources checked 8 October 2026. Educational information only.
Start with four categories
- Annual cash pay: salary and separately any variable bonus. Gross amounts are before deductions; a target bonus is not guaranteed.
- Owned investments: employer shares already held and other investments, valued at a specified date.
- Conditional awards: unvested RSUs or options with their own conditions. An indicative award value is not current spending money.
- Pension: a retirement asset with separate access conditions and estimates.
Adding all four into one package total mixes flows with asset values. The compensation map shows them separately.
A fictional example
Fictional example · values kept separate
- 01 / Annual gross cash pay
- £126,000
- 02 / Owned investments
- £100,000
- 03 / Conditional awards
- £90,000
- 04 / Pension
- £65,000
£108,000 salary + £18,000 expected bonus. Before deductions; bonus may vary.
£45,000 employer shares + £55,000 other investments. Employer shares are 45% of this listed subset.
Indicative unvested awards. Not owned cash or a guaranteed payment.
A separate retirement asset.
None of this calculates take-home pay or recommends a change in holdings. Annual pay and asset values remain separate.
Bring evidence to the discussion
Use payslips, award documents, current broker statements and pension statements. Record the date and currency of each value, and ask about items that do not reconcile.
Diversification can reduce reliance on one investment, but does not remove all risk. A description of employer exposure is a starting point for discussion, not an instruction to sell.