I see it all in my job and certainly things like this. Generally perks don’t work as expected if you’re asking the employee to pay for them. Which is basically

I see it all in my job and certainly things like this. Generally perks don’t work as expected if you’re asking the employee to pay for them. Which is basically what you’re doing if the competition is offering $5K more. Also people often will prefer base comp as it is seen as cash. And, squabbling over $5K is a sign that future salary conversations/advancements will be challenging or signals the company is “cheap”. The weirdest thing I ever saw was an employee turned down their ~$50K bonus due to taxes. Or, likely, their misunderstanding of how marginal taxes work.