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I would appreciate if someone could help me figure out the situation!

I had applied for a job and eventually got the offer. The way I received the offer seemed to be a bit weird. After several rounds of face-to-face interview, the line manager asked me to have a phone call regarding the job. I was abroad at that time so I asked him to communicate via email, however he preferred to talk on phone.

Over phone I was offered the job with annual salary of £50K plus bonus that adds up to £55K.

Yesterday, I received a document to review before they apply for my visa. On the document my salary was mentioned £40K. I contacted the HR for clarification and I was told that the base salary is £40K and the benefits may add up to £50K. In the benefits there are some items like relocation compensation (that are paid only once) and employer's contribution toward pension that they consider as part of benefit/bonus (I don't).

I am now in dilemma what to do and how to proceed because £40K is only slightly higher than my current base salary. Am I right to assume that the offer over phone (£50K) is meant to be base salary?

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    I feel you were misinformed over the phone, whatever the contract says is what they are going to pay you. Don't sign if you don't agree.
    – user41891
    May 10, 2017 at 20:33
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    "I will only talk on the phone" in this case seems to translate to "I don't want there to be any record of what I say". May 11, 2017 at 0:04
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    Sounds like you are being stiffed for up to 15k. You might want to reconsider accepting the offer. May 12, 2017 at 10:42

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Don't sign the contract until you get clarification. The contract is the what you will be paid. Personally I would not sign a contract for anyone I felt had misled me. I have never been made an offer with a numeric values that included benefits and I would have felt misled if they did that without fully explaining that up front.

And BTW, don't consider the bonus amount in your decision. Bonuses are almost always soft figures (i.e, they may not be what ends up being paid depending on how well the company did or may depend on meeting goals that you may or may not be able to meet due to things outside your control) and may or may not come through or may come through only in the first year. Ignore all talk of bonuses when you determine if the salary is what you want.

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    If the company is already being this vague, changes are, so will be the goals for the bonus.
    – Jeroen
    May 11, 2017 at 14:32

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