alt Hacker NewsRSU grants assume a growth rate (15%? I forget) so if they stay flat, go down, or grow slower than the baked-in growth rate, then you make less each year. If you do well enough, they’ll give you some RSUs to “make you whole” (as they used to say) but that doesn’t really happen anymore (or not much).
This is not true for your initial four year grant. I’m going to make up a number to make the math easy. Say my total compensation target was $200K. My initial 4 year offer was structured based on the then current stock price.
It would have been what ever it takes where base + prorated signing bonus + RSUs would equal $200K taking into account the 5/15/40/40 RSU schedule.