> Is it ever an option? Literally anything about your terms of employment is open for negotiation. The worst they can do is say no and rescind any offer / end

> Is it ever an option? Literally anything about your terms of employment is open for negotiation. The worst they can do is say no and rescind any offer / end negotiations because they don't like a question you ask. But if someone would reject you merely for asking whether something is possible you should be grateful because you're dodging a huge bullet. In my experience, I've had employers, including one start-up, do all kinds of things, such as (not all at the same place): (1) give me accelerated vesting schedule, (2) reduce the time-frame of the initial cliff from 1 year to 6 months, (3) grant a small severance benefit, (4) put in writing and send an email from my manager to me, CC'd to HR, stating exactly what the terms are for working from home each week, (5) significantly raise the offered salary, (6) put in writing and send an email from my manager CC'd to HR describing specific terms about budget and scheduling for annual conference attendance, (7) raise the amount of vacation time, (8) significantly alter large sections of boiler plate intellectual property restrictions and clauses from the company handbook to exclude certain open source projects I worked on and also to exclude any work I might do in my spare time towards starting my own business, so long as it was not materially competing with the business unit I worked for within the company (this was actually at a very large education technology company, and I was very surprised how willing they were to re-write their standard, legal-approved IP documents). Amazingly, there is only one aspect of my job that I've never been able to successfully negotiate at any employer: working in a private office instead of an awful open-plan space. And, unfortunately, this is probably one of the top 3 preferences for me when choosing a job, because open-plan offices are such a hindrance to productivity. But, physical office layouts can't easily be changed, and companies are often more willing to give hidden status signals, like higher pay, than public status symbols, like a nicer office, because the public signals cause more damage to the internal hierarchy. I have been able to get significant concessions about working from home, though, to supplement the dispreference for open-plan spaces. What really changed for me was reading this: < http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/ http://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/ > and basically just no longer being afraid of someone saying no. I've had three different episodes where I made it to the stage of receiving a formal offer, tried to negotiate, and was told "no." And so I walked away, turned down the jobs. Employers have to learn one way or another that we're not going to work just to get out of the rain. We expect to be paid fairly like anyone else. Long story short -- if they actually value talent, then anything about a specific employment agreement is negotiable. If they don't value talent, then just nope out of there and work somewhere else where they do value talent.