# "That covers the gap"

## This week's cartoon

![Cartoon: an employee looks at a thin paycheck on the desk while a cheerful manager with a lanyard hands over a large gold coupon labeled FLEXIBILITY. Manager says, "That covers the gap."](../../img/cartoons/flexibility-coupon.png)

> _Caption: They paid the gap in coupons._

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### Script

**Situation:** Your base is below market. Leadership points to hybrid days, async norms, or light travel as the reason the package is fine. You like some of the arrangement, but you need to know whether flexibility is real pay or cover for a cheap number.

> "I value the flexibility. To price the package properly, can we put a cash-equivalent on it, and say what happens to base if that policy tightens? If base were market, I would still want the arrangement. I want to know whether we are treating it as Remuneration or as a perk."

**Why it works:** It accepts the perk without pretending it is a raise. It forces a one-line valuation and a policy-risk check. If they cannot name a number, treat "flexible" as a soft perk, not a pay substitute, then renegotiate base or move.