It astounds me, over the years, how many of my former staff asked for their job’s back and the one thing I have learned is that many companies make promises about salaries that they don’t keep. It is not necessarily that they are dishonest but it is just that they include all sorts of things in their salary packages when they talk to candidates, that they create an impression that the candidate is going to walk away with more money than they are getting at their current job.

In many cases, once you strip out all the things that they list under “cost to company” you find that many employees are not actually better off, even though the package seems so much bigger and better. The first question I would ask is what the company’s annual increase policy is because I am aware of many companies that simply keep the salary at the same level for 5 years by which time your “career move” is anything but. I am also surprised that more candidates don’t ask the person who makes the offer to them, “What am I actually going to nett at the end of the month?” That will always require the bookkeeper’s calculations, but it can also give you a very interesting answer, because then presumably the company will take away the expenses and deductions relating to parking bays and all sorts of other things. Some companies, including those with their own offices, create the most wonderful amounts for parking, let’s say R1 700,00 a month and then multiply that by 12 months – so there is this wonderful benefit and impression created that you will be earning R20 000,00 extra a year in that regard alone, but in fact all you are getting is a space to park your car and you may well have been better off with a package that only gave you R5 000,00 extra a year, but in actual money, and park across the street! It is a too common occurrence for it just to be one or two companies, but it is amazing how many people are hoodwinked by “packages”.