New Job Offer?

DH got the job offer he was hoping for today. It was good in some ways but bad in others. One thing is it was a lower cut in salary. Yep, my first thought was "oh dear and crap." Taking a step back in salary sounds terrible, but DH is super excited.

I'm not sure what to think. I guess the bad part is the lower salary. But the good part is that there is greater potential for upper mobility at this new company. How so? Well at the new company DH would have an immediate opportunity to manage someone, potentially 2 people. At this current company it's likely he will not get a chance to manage someone for at least 5+ years. The problem is that his company is top heavy so opportunities to move up is tough.

So the question is it is worth it to switch companies? I don't know, basically we're leaving $40k of stock, not options but actually stock on the table. But DH has an opportunity to move up. He also will get $15k in stock and possible tuition reimbursement which could easily make up the $40k in stock he's leaving on the table. Also DH will lose a week of paid vacation instead of 4 weeks he gets 3 weeks. Another considertion is DH will lose the 4o1k company match of 4.5% which at his current employer immediately vests. At his new company though the match is more generous 6%, it takes 4 years to vest. Another considertion is the current company allows up to 15% ESPP, but the new company only 10%. That is another small way we earn a bonus annually because we max out our contributions.

Another issue to consider is at the new company we definitely have an opportunity to move back to the West Coast because they have a site out there. So that sort of plays into our long term goals and aspirations. Also the new company is very acceptable to people switching positions within the company, they believe that a valuable person should be kept happy. DH's new boss went from science to marketing/business development back to science. So the new company is out to make the workers happy. The old company, they are very unsupportive of the MBA and haven't shown any willingness to work on DH's career track. He feels his ideas are ignored and his overall happiness at the company isn't considered.

This is something we're going to have to weigh carefully. But any thoughts would be appreciated.