It is a good point. But people still can be "looking elsewhere" as in searching if they can find another job. It is exactly the thing I would do if I had any chance that I would loose my job. I know my manager would never do it but with layoffs there are greater forces that he may not be able to save me from.

And changing your availability and answering a call or chat from time to time does not cost much. It is not like there is any downside to it.

And if an A player starts looking around great things sometimes happen. He may get hired at much higher position that would justify the salary. Or he may have already earned a lot at FB and may decide this is the time to invest in building a startup, etc.

At my previous company I got in an argument with my boss and just changed my availability on LI. Just out of spite. This led me to an offer that changed my life. And there is a lot of people so much better at their job than I am.

> It is exactly the thing I would do if I had any chance that I would loose my job

There is always a chance you can lose your job. There has never been a day since I started working over 25 years ago (well actually I spent my first year saving so it would have hurt then) that I haven’t been ready to change jobs at the drop of a dime.

> And changing your availability and answering a call or chat from time to time does not cost much. It is not like there is any downside to it

You should be doing that all the time regardless.

> And if an A player starts looking around great things sometimes happen. He may get hired at much higher position

That happens most of the time anyway because of salary compression and inversion even if you are just a journeyman “full stack developer”.

Good points. But there might be some start-ups tempting them with pre-IPO stock or they can start their own business.

FB pay at this point is highly dependent on when your RSU basis was set, no?

If you joined from 9/2020 to 1/2022, you’ve taken a serious pay cut versus your nominal offer.

Unless there have been adjustments that I haven’t read about?

For someone who joined at the peak of September 2021, let's assume an L6 offer of $240k + 20% bonus + $1.1M in joining stock over four years. With no stock movement and meeting expectations, they'd make $298k cash + $275k stock, for a total of $563k. Now, with that stock down by 50% (ish) as of today, they're total compensation would be $436k. That's still a serious chunk of change, and while a $138k drop in compensation is nothing to sneeze at, they'll also be getting a new grant of $220k/4 years this month(ish), and every year hereafter, bringing their 2023 compensation almost back to $500k if the stock market doesn't move.

So yes, it's a serious pay cut, but it's still amazing pay. Now, if they were bullish on the market, then it might make sense to try to move to another company that can come up with a 7-figure joining bonus and ride that appreciation to new stock heights.

Yes, I agree with the GP’s main point that FB is still near or at top of market and that matters quite a bit more than HN sometimes gives it credit for.

Just wanted to clarify that it’s not quite what it was. Thanks for adding numbers.

Refreshers and bonuses weren't paused during this period.