[milesskorpen]

When you join a company you typically get a larger than normal RSU grant that vests over 4 years. Every year you get new, typically smaller, grants. The compound effect is that your compensation will decrease in year 5, when your initial grant expires.

For example, using my company with relative numbers: Initial grant: $200 Refresher grants: $100

  Y1 = $50 = $50 total RSU compensation
  Y2 = $50 + $25 = $75
  Y3 = $50 + $25 + $25 = $100
  Y4 = $50 + $25 + $25 + $25 = $125
  Y5 = $00 + $25 + $25 + $25 + $25 = $100 < DECREASE

This can be compounded if your company's valuation has increased substantially in this period. The difference between initial and refresher can also be significantly larger than 2x

To stick at the $125/year and not see a drop in compensation, you'd want to be getting larger refresher grants which typically require promotions.

[keehun]

Makes sense!