Issue 21 of The Pointer Index · Week ending 6 September 2026
Nothing moved this week, so we read the whole archive instead: 125,113 GTM job ads collected since March. The clearest change in them has nothing to do with headcount or pay. It is the offer itself.
The perks that vanished
In May, one GTM ad in eight promised a learning and development budget. In September so far, one in thirty. Wellness budgets followed the same slope, from 9.2% of ads to under 5%.
By function, April against August:
Every function fell. There is no exception to point at.
What took their place
Bonus mentions climbed 60% from April to August. Uncapped-commission language went from 1.8% of ads to 3.8%. Ads naming an actual OTE figure went from 1.5% to 2.2%.
Advertised base pay sat still through all of it: thirteen straight weeks with the median inside the $97,500 to $102,500 band.
The extra budget is moving from development and wellbeing to performance-based pay. Maybe paying the mortgage is more attractive than a spa day.
Three small prints
The four-day week never arrived. Roughly one GTM ad in a thousand offers it. That number has not moved in six months.
"No visa sponsorship" is rising. Ads that rule it out in writing went from 4.9% to 6.5%, up a third. Ads that offer it sit near 0.1%.
The leave pillar survived. Parental leave and extra-leave-days mentions held steady while the rest was trimmed.
The numbers this week
The active pool closed at 5,779 GTM roles, up 1.3% on the week and level with its four-week average. 5,109 roles opened, 6,086 closed. Median advertised base: $99,730, transparency 15.8%.
The number to watch: 3.3%. That is where learning-budget mentions sit today. If the market turns, it should be one of the first numbers to recover. We will be watching for the floor.