Rsus

I’m looking at a role where a decent chunk of the compensation is in RSUs that vest over time. In my case, the initial package vests over 4 years which would end up accounting for 17% increase from my base salary, and there’s also potential for additional grants based on performance that would vest over 3 years. On paper it looks great, but obviously it’s not guaranteed and depends on staying + company performance. Do you guys actually count RSUs as part of your salary? Has it paid off for you in a meaningful way, or is it mostly just a retention tool (“golden handcuffs”) that rarely ends up being worth what you expect? Also, how long do you realistically need to stay at a company for equity to actually be worth it? Trying to figure out how much weight I should give it vs just focusing on base salary/cash. Would appreciate any real stories. Edit: For context, this is a well-established, publicly traded tech company (not a startup). The stock has actually been quite volatile and is currently significantly down vs its highs over the past year+