A ₹20 lakh question
A 31-year-old software developer in Bengaluru has declined a ₹20 lakh salary increase that would have raised his annual pay from ₹45 lakh to more than ₹65 lakh, according to Rohan Dhawan, founder of UAbility, who shared the story on LinkedIn. Dhawan described the decision as driven by the personal demands attached to the promotion rather than the money itself.
The proposed role would have brought a larger team, a higher designation, and greater visibility among recruiters, Dhawan said. But it also meant four nights a week of calls with a US-based team, unavoidable travel, responsibility for almost twice as many people, and weekends that could be difficult to keep free, he explained.
The 'absurd' reason
Dhawan said his friend's father struggled to understand why anyone would reject such a substantial increase in earnings. After learning that his son had declined the offer, the father called and said, in Hindi: "₹20 lakh extra mil raha hai. Problem kya hai? Aaj kal log 10% hike ke liye job badal lete hain." (You're getting ₹20 lakh extra. What's the problem? These days people switch jobs for a 10% )
According to Dhawan, his friend's decision was influenced by plans to have a child next year. The developer and his wife are planning for that, and the promotion would have required compromises he was not ready to make, Dhawan said.
The hidden costs
The developer currently maintains a demanding personal routine outside work, Dhawan said, training five mornings a week and having dinner with his parents every Wednesday. The new position would have upended that balance.
"The problem was everything that wasn't written in the offer letter. Calls with the US team 4 nights a week. Travel he wouldn't be able to refuse. A team almost double the size, which means his calendar stops belonging to him and starts belonging to 12 other people. Weekends that stay technically free and never actually are," Dhawan wrote in his post.
"People don't realise that past a certain salary, the extra lakhs stop coming out of the company's pocket and start coming out of yours," he added. His post ended with the line: "Every offer letter tells you exactly what you'll be paid. None of them tell you what you'll be paying."
Online reactions
The post has drawn responses from professionals who shared similar experiences. One commenter said they had declined an offer last February that would have provided an almost 50% increase in fixed pay and more than an 80% increase in total compensation, choosing to remain with their existing team because they had welcomed a baby only a few months earlier.
Another commenter said rejecting the promotion did not make the developer any less ambitious, arguing that people can have different priorities while still pursuing their careers. A third said they had passed on three similar offers and remained satisfied with the decision because it allowed them to spend regular time with their parents, wife, and child.