The only time shares are different is stock growth, and since stock on average grows the shares will on average be worth more in year 4 than year 1. And in some rare cases with huge stock growth you can see extremely large compensations as a result, but otherwise they are just like normal salary.
Almost I just view the amount that vests every year as a part of my annual salary and that's it. The total is really immaterial.
To answer the original question, no, not worth loyalty, but no money is. You can think of them as a slightly complicated raise. That being said, over the past 10 years, RSUs have been very good for a lot of tech workers. They may or may not continue to be good.
IMO people allocating RSUs are no safer than an engineer. They can easily get replaced. As a matter of fact, leadership can change directions at any time and now put you in a position where you’re miserable every day.
I see the two have perhaps some correlation but because you’ve been given a decent grant doesn’t guarantee job security. Too many other factors involved.
Is this in any way different from deducting normal salary from profits?
The point of the RSUs vesting, instead of just being granted all at once, is that you are incentivized to put in a real effort. If your efforts help result in the company doing well, you get to share in the profit -- your $1 award today becomes $5 by the time it vests. The value of your RSU increased in direct correlation to the value that YOU ADD to the company. It gives you skin in the game and keeps people working hard.
In fact, management is not incentivized to be stingy with some small "finite" number of RSUs. They are incentivized to hand them out liberally, giving everyone lots of reasons ($$$) to work hard hard hard.