Comparing two job offers: net pay, bonuses, hours and perks

One offer quotes a gross annual salary, the other a gross monthly salary “over thirteen months” with meal vouchers and extra hours every week. Which pays better? Impossible to tell at a glance. This guide gives a five-step method for bringing everything to the same yardstick, applies it to two offers worked out by the site's comparison tool, and lists what matters without having a price.

The five-step method

1. Guaranteed gross annual pay. Fixed monthly pay × months paid, plus bonuses written into the contract. Leave aside for now anything that depends on targets. The guide to reading a job ad helps decode “selon profil” and “package” wording.
2. Average net monthly pay. Convert the gross annual figure into net, then divide by twelve: a thirteenth month or a yearly bonus become comparable with a salary paid over twelve months. The thirteenth-month guide explains how it is paid.
3. Net hourly pay. Divide that net by the hours actually set in the contract. An offer at 39 hours a week does not buy the same time as one at 35 hours, and a day-based contract has no hours at all: count in days instead.
4. Perks you can price. Add, in euros a month, what the employer pays on top of the salary: the employer's share of meal vouchers, health cover above the minimum, commuting support beyond the legal obligation, a remote-work allowance.
5. The rest, to weigh without a price. Career prospects, contract stability, commuting time, team, training: which is why a gap of a few dozen euros should not decide on its own.

Two offers, the worked example

Offer A: €38,000 gross a year, over twelve months, at 35 hours a week, nothing else. Offer B: €2,750 gross a month over 13 months, at 39 hours, a yearly bonus of €1,500 and meal vouchers with 60% paid by the employer. Two non-cadre employees, same health cover:

Calculation: the site's comparison tool, modele-social publicodes engine, non-cadre permanent contract, the site's standard health cover, before tax. Average net monthly pay spreads the thirteenth month and the bonus over twelve months.

Reading it: B pays €49 less than A in average net monthly pay, but the meal vouchers put it ahead by €59 a month. Per hour worked, though, A pays €16.38 net against €14.41 for B. If your free time counts, A wins; if only what you receive each month counts, meal vouchers included, B does. The two-offer comparison tool redoes this with your own offers, cadre status and health cover included.

What comes on top of the salary

• Meal vouchers. The employer pays between 50% and 60% of their value to get the exemption; its share is what counts in the comparison. The meal voucher guide covers the ceilings.
• Health cover. The employer funds at least 50% in every private-sector company; compare the share deducted from your pay and the level of cover, especially if you insure a family.
• Commuting and remote work. Refunding 50% of the public transport pass is compulsory for every employer: only what goes beyond counts. One remote day a week means that many fewer journeys, less time and lower costs.
• Profit-sharing, incentive schemes, variable pay. Useful, but neither guaranteed nor comparable from one year to the next: count them separately, with the amounts of recent years if you are given them. The guide to bonuses and variable pay helps you judge a variable component.
• The collective agreement. Extra holiday, seniority bonuses, pay maintained during sick leave: two companies in the same sector can fall under different texts. The guide to the collective agreement minimum explains how to find yours.

The classic traps

• The “package” that adds base pay and target variable pay: only the base is certain. Compare base with base, then variable with variable.
• A thirteenth month that is prorated or only paid after a minimum length of service: the first year brings in less than the annual figure shown.
• Hours beyond 35 a week are overtime, paid at a 25% premium for the first ones unless an agreement sets otherwise: ask whether the gross quoted for 39 hours already pays for them, and at what rate. The overtime guide explains the rules.
• A day-based contract against one in hours: no paid overtime, sometimes long days. The guide to day-based working time (forfait jours) helps you compare.
• Cadre status: on the same gross, net pay is slightly lower because of contributions specific to cadres. The guide to cadre pay shows the calculated gap.

Decide, then negotiate

Once both offers are on the same yardstick, the gap reads in euros a month and euros an hour. If it is small, career prospects, the contract and the commute decide. If it is clear, you hold an argument: the better offer becomes leverage to negotiate the other, with the method in the guide to negotiating your starting salary. And to know whether both are at market level, the What am I worth? analysis works out your value from your CV.