Chapter 13 Discussion Post

1. This chapter was about Employee Benefits. This was another subject of interest to me. I've found it enlightening to realize that so much more composes how you compensate your employees besides just monetary compensation. And often the things that your employees value above pay are things that end up costing you a lot less money. Unfortunately benefits are not one of those things. They are very expensive for the company, but are necessary to recruit and retain. Federal law requires employers to offer some benefits, but many are optional. A brief list of benefits for employees include: social security, unemployment insurance, worker's comp, medical leave, paid leave, group insurance, retirement plans, paid-time-off, personal days, life insurance, and other quality of work-life benefits like having a gym or subsidized cafeteria on site. The chapter also focuses on the need to communicate what your benefits are, so that your employees and prospective employees know all the wonderful things you are paying for them to get.

2. Have you ever had a job that included optional benefit programs? (These are included in the list above from "paid leave" on.) What were they? Did you perceive them as a benefit?

3. I think perception is the issue. The book touched on the fact that when you are designing your optional benefits program you need to consider what your employees will actually care about. Maybe none of your employees would care about on-site dry cleaning. If they don't consider that a benefit, don't waste money on it! It is also critical to communicate your benefits to them. If they don't know it exists, its not a benefit!

4. Have you seen any trends in the amount or the mix of optional benefits employers are offering employees? Do you think optional benefits matter in recruiting and retaining? Would you rather just be paid more than have the benefits?

Reflections

We touched a lot on transparency this class. Its an interesting subject. As a salesman, I understand that in every negotiation situation, one party starts high and negotiates down, and one starts low and negotiates up. This is true on the car lot, in the privately owned retail store, in the private sale of items, in the music store, buying tickets from scalpers, and at your prospective employers. Is this fair? Should the best negotiators get the best deals? Well whether you love it or loath it, negotiating is an ancient art, deeply rooted into humanity. This presents a problem though. What happens when neighbors find out they paid totally different prices for the same car from the same lot? What happens when coworkers with the same experience and time find out they are being paid differently. This creates a problem. You can either hide the numbers, or level the playing field. Personally, I'm against transparency in this context. I don't want the playing field leveled cause it means I can't negotiate higher pay for myself!