May 2005 PR Perspective

The Benefit Package

By Elizabeth Schilling

Marketing Manager

Workinpr.com

As a train engineer, my father had excellent benefits. While the benefits did not include stock options, that was not something he missed. The workers of his generation were concerned with such amenities as family medical coverage, paid time off and pensions. His employer supplied no-contribute medical coverage, many weeks of vacation each year and a superb pension that allowed my father and mother to live quite comfortably after he retired. My father did not have the option of tax deferred compensation, employee assistance programs or the chance to take a sabbatical, but he never paid a medical, dental or vision co-pay nor did he worry a whit about prosperity during his retirement years.

Early in my working career, I took a position in state government and was also offered an excellent benefits package, one similar to my father's. A difference between them was, on the downside, the increasing amount of medical co-pays and deductibles for which I was responsible; and on the upside, the addition of deferred compensation and an employee assistance program. Otherwise, despite the many years of difference between my father's working life and mine, the similarities in what are termed 'bread and butter' benefits are striking:

Time off This includes vacation, holidays, personal leave, and sick leave. Enlightened companies now include floating or personal holidays. Whether paid or unpaid, sabbaticals have increasingly cropped up on the list of company benefits.

Health insurance This includes medical, dental and vision insurance, prescription drug plans, disability coverage and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), which offers employee counseling. With the rising cost of healthcare, employees are increasingly responsible for co-pays and deductibles. The newest wrinkle, flexible spending accounts, allows employees to put aside non-taxed money each year for out of pocket medical expenses.

Retirement plans In addition to an often-compulsory retirement plan, employees have the benefit of optional tax-deferred accounts such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and deferred compensation. Whether or not private accounts partially replace social security remains to be seen.

Insurance Short- and long-term disability, life insurance, and long-term care insurance is a typical benefit.

Training* The caveat here is that training is nearly always work-related - whether to burnish an employee's skills (e.g., a communications seminar) or to learn company values and ethics (e.g., cultural diversity training). Visionary human resource policies allow payment for training and tuition reimbursement for undergraduate or graduate classes that groom employees for higher level positions in the company.

In her article, Benefits Overview, salary.com correspondent Jessica Yang states: "Compensation is more than just base pay. It is a total package that should address your overall well being - financial, physical, emotional, even spiritual. When companies compete for talent, many will roll out better benefits to attract and retain the best workers."

These days, employers must use more than "bread-and-butter" benefits to attract and retain quality employees, says Vincent Siciliano, spokesman for The Eastridge Group of Staffing Companies. He echoes Ms. Yang's sentiments when he says, "Employees are looking for optimum working conditions. They also desire flexibility in their work lives and benefits beyond base salary and routine group medical coverage." He goes on to state that, "Even employers who are paying top dollar in salaries need to think creatively and be kept up to speed on the latest employee benefits."

According to Mr. Siciliano, demographics play a significant role in the types of benefits employees want. Older employees are more likely to see value in major health coverage, while younger workers are more likely to be interested in flexible work hours, profit sharing and stock options. Working mothers have become increasingly vocal about obtaining childcare assistance. Some companies have had the foresight to offer it. As Mr. Siciliano points out, creative, responsive benefits help companies to retain quality employees.

A flexible benefits package demonstrates how nimble a company is in its approach to employees' well being. While most companies offer a base of bread and butter benefits, they are increasingly offering creative benefits. An interesting example, which costs nothing to either employer or employee, is a program that helps employees to buy new cars. This clever Minneapolis-based operation, called Vehicle Advantage, shops and negotiates discounts for employees of its corporate clients. The cost is borne by car dealers across the country.

Many corporate web sites now include information about employee benefits, and it's educational for the job seeker to see what's out there. On the web site for an international information management solutions company, you will find the statement: "We strive to offer employees an attractive and innovative benefits package. We recognize that our employees are paramount to the ongoing success of the Company." Besides getting points for making benefits available from the first day of work, the company offers tuition reimbursement, employee referral bonuses, auto, homeowner & legal Insurance, savings bonds and discount programs for movie theatres, theme parks, cell phones and more. They also have service awards and an employee recognition program, cited by Eastridge's Mr. Siciliano as "small but important gestures that can make the difference in how quality employees feel about their jobs."

A Virginia-based operations management company lists an impressive array of benefits on its web site. Along with high quality bread and butter benefits, the company offers a significant flex-time work policy, a variety of personal and professional development programs, including memberships and subscriptions, educational assistance and funding for certification preparation courses and exams. In the current political climate, it was impressive to see the benefits description state prominently that same-sex domestic partners may be covered under medical insurance.

In a twist on creative benefits, a California-based conglomerate of boutique hotels offers "unique benefits." Their policy statement reads: "We are committed to the long-term development of every employee in the family. Our goal is to create an environment that is stimulating and fun; to provide our staff with the opportunity to grow both personally and professionally; and to encourage them to be creative and forward thinkers." The unique benefits include complimentary hotel stays, company sponsored sports teams, concert tickets to many venues, free trips to entertainment parks and spa discounts among other entertainment-type discounts. Strangely enough, nothing on the web site mentions either medical benefits or retirement.

Probably the best bread and butter benefits you will find are those offered with federal government jobs. What federal jobs lack in salary equity with the private sector, they make up by offering excellent health care, paid leave time and pensions as well as telecommuting, childcare, job sharing and fitness programs.

Even if the opportunity to negotiate bread and butter benefits with most companies is slim, it's still important for the job seeker to know what benefits companies are offering. The best way to use the knowledge of bread and butter, creative and unique benefits is to figure out what's most important to you when you're shopping for a new job. With the improving job market, you can afford to do that.

*This benefits list can be found in an article entitled Benefits Overview by salary.com correspondent Jessica Yang.

If you have links, comments or information pertaining to the editorial you would like to share, please feel free to email me at info@workinpr.com. Space permitting, I'll include them in the next newsletter.