Jordan had two offers on the table and one spreadsheet column that mattered: salary. Offer A paid a little more. Offer B paid a little less but, as far as Jordan could tell from a short phone call, had better hours and a more settled team. The numbers pointed one way, and a nagging sense that the numbers weren’t the whole story pointed the other. Jordan had a week to decide and only one way to compare, which was the figure at the top of each letter.
Most people compare job offers this way, and most come to see later that the salary was only one line on a longer list. A better comparison takes about an hour and a few honest questions.
The Pay You Don’t See on the Payslip
One of the easiest items to overlook is the workplace pension. According to GOV.UK, a percentage of your pay goes into the pension scheme automatically every payday, and in most cases your employer adds money too. The minimum total contribution is 8 percent, made up of at least 3 percent from the employer and 5 percent from you, calculated on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year before tax. Those figures apply from April 2019, according to the page, and they could be higher depending on the scheme’s rules, particularly for defined benefit schemes. You may also get tax relief from the government.
The earnings band and rates can change, so check the current GOV.UK page before relying on those numbers. The practical point is that two employers can both be compliant and still contribute very different amounts. A higher employer contribution is effectively extra pay that never reaches your bank account, and it’s worth asking about before you accept.
Hours Are Pay, Too
A job’s hours shape what the salary really means. A role that pays slightly more for noticeably longer or more unpredictable hours may be worth less per hour than it looks. It’s worth asking how many hours a week the role really involves, how overtime is handled, and how much notice staff get of changes to shifts.
Flexibility has a value as well. Whether part-time options exist, whether you can adjust start times, and whether there’s room to change your hours later can matter more to daily life than a small gap in pay.
Growth and Training
Another item that rarely appears in the offer letter is what the job could lead to. Is there training provided? Does the employer support professional qualifications? Is there a visible path from your role to the next one, and has anyone actually taken it?
A role that pays a little less but teaches you something valuable can be the better financial decision over a few years. It’s a harder thing to quantify, but it’s worth writing down.
A Familiar Scenario: The Spreadsheet That Missed Half the Story
Jordan eventually added rows to the spreadsheet: pension contribution, weekly hours, commute, flexibility, training. None of the new numbers were precise, and some were guesses. But two of the rows swung the comparison. Offer A’s higher salary came with a longer commute and noticeably longer hours. When Jordan divided pay by real hours, the gap closed and then flipped.
It’s a simple exercise, and it works because it forces the invisible parts of a job onto the page.
Ask for the Whole Package in Writing
Offers made over the phone tend to cover pay and start date and little else. Before you decide, it’s reasonable to ask for the pension contribution, holiday allowance, notice period, probation terms and any training commitments in writing. Doing so isn’t pushy. It’s how you make sure you’re comparing the same things across both offers, and it gives you something to refer back to if details get fuzzy later. Employers who respond promptly and clearly tend to be the ones who run the rest of the job the same way.
What to Add to Your Own Comparison
- Pension: what does the employer contribute, and is it more than the minimum?
- Hours: contracted, typical, and what happens at busy times
- Flexibility: part-time, adjusted hours, working location
- Commute: time and cost each week
- Training: what’s provided, and what’s paid for
- Leave: holiday allowance and any sick pay beyond the legal minimum
- Progression: realistic next steps, and how long they usually take
Reading the Advert for Clues
Adverts won’t answer everything, but they tell you what an employer chooses to say. The careers page of a residential treatment programme in Wichita, Kansas, for instance, lists its roles, whether they’re full-time or part-time, the licences each requires, and a description of the team culture. It doesn’t list benefits, which is itself a useful reminder: what an advert leaves out is a question to ask at an interview. The programme is American and not a model for UK terms, but the habit of noticing what’s missing applies to any advert.
Making the Decision
Jordan took the lower salary, with the better hours, a stronger employer pension contribution and a clearer route to training. It wasn’t an obviously correct decision, and it might not suit someone else. But it was made with a full picture, and Jordan could explain the reasoning without a hint of second-guessing. That’s the real goal of the exercise: not to find a perfect job, but to make a choice you can defend to yourself.