Work Benefits

[Pyser]

The skipping work thread made me wonder:

What benefits do you get at work?

I'll tell you right now what mine is, because I get nothing!

-Health Care: No.
-Dental: No.
-Stock Options: No.
-401k: No.

I dont even know what other benefits come with jobs, because I've never gotten them! But I'm just wondering what everyone else gets or doesnt get.

[ISiddiqui]

By 'benefits', do you include things that your place of work pays a good amount for? Because my employer pays a good deal of my health care premiums. Or just what your employer offers? Or gives you for free?

[Coffee Warlord]

Health Care/Dental: Pays for some of it.
Stock: No
401k: Yes, but it's worthless (zero matching, I'd rather invest my money privately)

And, the almighty 15 minute massage every wednesday.

[twothree]

No benefits.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I could get health care, but I'm just piggybacking on my wife's insurance, so I declined the health care.
I have dental care coverage, which is costing me $2 per month.
There's also long term disability insurance (pays me 60% of my salary if I can't work), which costs me something like $5 per month.
401(k): Yep. If I contribute up to 4%, the company matches half of it. So I'm contributing 4% and the company is contributing 2%.

Honestly, the company I work for has a really nice benefits package. I guess it makes sense considering that they're providing coverage for thousands of coal miners, and they need to have really good benefits out there considering the risks that those miners take every day.

[Scarecrow]

-Health Care/Dental/Prescription Insurance: Pays for 95% of mine, 50% of my family's
-Stock Options: No
-401k: Better than that - KPERS (Kansas Publice Employee Retirement System) similar to social secirity. I get 4% of my salary deducted (tax free)from each check, and when I retire at 65 (with 30 years service), I will receive a 'retirement check' at about 50% of my final salary every 2 weeks until I die.
-Sick/Vacation: 3.7 hours of each every 2 weeks.
-Holidays: Just about every imaginable one off.

[Izulde]

A certain % off of purchases as well as periodic deep, deep discounts or free items when new stuff gets launched.

As for the rest of it, I'm not sure because I only work PT. I believe there's some tyep of expanded benefits for FT employees, however.

[DanGarion]

Medical / Dental / Vision - They pay for like 85% of my medical, and 70% of my wifes. I think I pay about $47 bucks a month total and we have $15 copay if we go to the doctors.
Stock Options : I got some for three years after the merger with AOL but only the 3rd ones are worth anything and I will be lucky if the 2nd ones are worth something when they are due.
401K : They match 66.7% up to 10% of my salary.
Free Cable TV, High Speed Internet, $20 bucks a month for digital phone unlimited US long distance.
100% pay for education if directly related to position, 50% for job advancement.
0% interest loan (26 weeks) up to $2000 (with 10% down payment) on purchase of new Dell Computer.
2 weeks vacation to start goes up another week every 5 years (I'm up to 4 weeks next year).
1 hour of sick time for every 8.33 hours worked.
9 Holidays and 3 floating holidays
Since I'm salary I get a year end bonus that is up to 10% of my salary.

[Draft Dodger]

I get all the pens and post it notes I could ever dream of.

[Noble_Platypus]

Do hot female co-workers count?

[lordscarlet]

OK, here we go. My 401k makes every day here worth it.

Medical/Dental/Vision: Something like $20/paycheck
Long Term Disability: Free
10 vacation days (+1 per year with the company)
10 sick days (I don't need near that many)
All Federal holidays
401k: 50% match of anything I put in. I max out, so last year they matched $7500. We also get a "profit sharing" contribution by the company each year. This April mine was about $9000. So this year I will put in $15,500, they will put in $7750 and they put in about $9000 for the profit sharing (roughly $32,250 contributed for 2007)

[finketr]

health care/dental/vision: yes for a monthly premium. employer picks up a healthy chunk of the premium
stock options: nope, not high enough up in the company yet.
401k: 6% match dollar for dollar.
Continuing education: College courses - yes at 90% paid i think
employee purchase programs: HP, DEll, Ford, GM, Others
sick: unlimited, essentially. if out for 5 days straight, need a doctor's note to return
life insurance: 2x salary paid by company.
retirement: yes
vacation: 2 weeks/calendar year. goes to 3weeks at 5 years and 4 weeks at 15 years (i think)
holidays: standard 7 + good friday
health club reimbursement: $40/month with 8 trips/month. This works out to $3/month for me since the rate is $43
bonus: based on company performance, employee performance (must be valued employee 3 out of a 5 scale), and job
matching gift program
disability insurance.

so, pretty damn good, i must say

[finketr]

dola,

iirc, someone did a study on sick day policy and absenteeism that showed a correlation between unlimited sick days = lower absentee rate.

[Telle]

I work for NY State.

health/dental/vision - I pay a premium and the state picks up the rest. The health insurance is VERY good. No deductible.. the birth of my son cost me a whopping $10 copay.

1.25 to 1.75 vacation and sick days earned per month (amount depending upon years of service).

tenure after seven years

pension plan that I only put into for the first 10 years

And while there isn't technically disability coverage, if you have to be out for medical reasons for a period of time that extends beyond the number of sick days you have accrued, you can ask the president of the college to keep you on the payroll for the period of time that you are not medically cleared to return. And from what I can tell, this is generally not denied.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

OK, here we go. My 401k makes every day here worth it.

Medical/Dental/Vision: Something like $20/paycheck
Long Term Disability: Free
10 vacation days (+1 per year with the company)
10 sick days (I don't need near that many)
All Federal holidays
401k: 50% match of anything I put in. I max out, so last year they matched $7500. We also get a "profit sharing" contribution by the company each year. This April mine was about $9000. So this year I will put in $15,500, they will put in $7750 and they put in about $9000 for the profit sharing (roughly $32,250 contributed for 2007)

You might want to look into that 401k plan if that's where all that money is going into. There's very strict limitations on how much can be invested a year before getting into huge tax burdens, and with that amount I'd figure you'd be over it.

edit: All that money is still awesome though, wherever its going.

[lynchjm24]

I get medical/dental/vision
28 vacation days
cash value pension
401 k they match half up to 6%
yearly stock grant
std/ltd/life

[Mustang]

Health - I pay about $250 a month, $2K deductible per year and pays about 90-100% of visits with a $20 co-pay. Covers the family.

Dental - $10 a month. Pays around 90% with 2 checkups per year. Covers the family.

Eyecare - $10 a month. 1 set of glasses per year per family member with 1 eye exam covered per year.

Vacation - 3 weeks + 3 personal days. (Extra day if Christmas is on a weekend). 6 sick days per year.

401K - Up to 50% match per year up to 6% of your salary depending on financial health of company. Also, 5% match of your salary at end of the year paid in company stock.

Company also has wellness plan to cover $250 of gym costs and up to 50% tuition reimbursement for Masters degrees.

[ctmason]

While Arizona's State Service Salary Schedule leaves a little to be desired, the benefits in my opinion more than make up for it.

Health/Dental/Vision: Employer contributions vary but I believe it averages like 85% of monthly premium. Less for family similar to what's been stated above.
Long-term Disability standard, Short-term Optional (Employee pays 100% of premium on Short term Disability
10 Holidays per year
21 days Annual Leave earned per year (earned at 1.7 days per month approximately)
11 days Sick Leave earned per year (earned at just under 1 day per month)
Arizona State Retirement System -- When an employee reaches 80 "points" (age plus years of service) a percentage of the employees average of the highest three years of service (within the last ten years, I think) is paid until death.
Deferred Compensation -- I think this is a 427 plan? No employer match, obviously, but it is pre-tax dollars.
Flexible schedules/telecommuting agreements offered for most, but not all. For instance my department does not offer it.

All of my friends hate my "gubment" job.

Edit: And almost forgot, government rate at any Best Western in da Woild!!!!

[st.cronin]

I get to surf the internet all day.

[DanGarion]

Forgot to include Basic Life Insurance x3 of base pay. And Dependent Life Insurance. Plus I get to use the internet at work which is a plus.

[lungs]

1) A three bedroom house. Since I'm single, I turn around and rent the other two rooms out.

2) Free gasoline for both of my vehicles (personal and business)

3) Health Care and Dental or whatever. I have health insurance but not dental. If something isn't covered I just hand the bill over and it's taken care of.

4) Satellite and Internet

5) Two weeks of paid vacation per year.

6) Any sick time I need.

7) $200/month tax free income to be used for groceries.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Logan

You might want to look into that 401k plan if that's where all that money is going into. There's very strict limitations on how much can be invested a year before getting into huge tax burdens, and with that amount I'd figure you'd be over it.

edit: All that money is still awesome though, wherever its going.

My fiance is a tax accountant.

The only limitation I am aware of is putting in $15,500 per year (for 2007).

[Pyser]

man, there are some sweet benefits out there. interesting.

[Clark]

Good old State of Wisconsin (with 13 years of service):

Health insurance: I pay $68 per month, the state pays close to $1,000 it's great insurance.

Dental: Not great but my health plan covers two cleanings a year and things like fillings.

4 weeks of vacation.

4 1/2 paid personnel days.

9 paid holidays.

16 paid sick days per year. You can accumulate the days you don't use, I have roughly 1,200 hours saved. The Sate will match close to 2,500 hours when I retire. The accumulated hours will then be converted at my highest base wage and applied to the cost of my post retirement health insurance.

Age 53 retirement that will pay roughly 75% of my 3 highest paid years of service. Decreases a little when I start receiving social security.

Cheap life insurance.

Income continuation insurance.

Deferred Compensation, pre-tax no employer match.

[SnDvls]

20 vacation/sick days
car
health insurance for me & family (2 year old)
very casual work environment (t-shirt, shorts & a ball cap today w/ flip flops usually)
end of year bonus (='s one paycheck)

[terpkristin]

Relocation expenses
401k with 5% matching
Health
Dental
Flex Spending for healthcare (would also be for childcare if I had kids)
Stocks (Employee Stock Purchase Plan)
Vision

Lots of other things I don't use, like legal insurance.

Plus stuff with local entities (when I moved into my apartment, I got my security deposit waived because of where I worked, discount gym memberships, etc), deals with Dell, deals with a dry cleaner that comes and picks up your dry cleaning at work (and drops it back off the next day), etc etc.

They have a lot of things to help out their employees.

/tk

[johneh]

Health Care - company pays 90% of premium
Dental - company pays 90% of premium
401k - 50% match on up tp 6% of pay
Company Pays 100% of Long Term & Short Term Disability, Life Insurance equal to 1 yr pay and Accidental Death & Dismemberment Insurance
10 Paid Holidays
2 Weeks of Paid vacation, grows to 4 week by year 10
Bonus Plan based on Company Profit

[Galaril]

I haven'tstarted to put anything into a 401k at work but now that I am 40 and we purchased our house and the first kid is in kindergarten (public) I figured it might be a good time. My company matches .50 cent to the dollar up to 6% of my bi-weekly gross earnings. I am not sure if that is good or not based on the standard 401k others get with jobs. I am wondering with the financial crisis is this a good or bad time to invest in a 401k for retirement?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Pyser

The skipping work thread made me wonder:

What benefits do you get at work?

I'll tell you right now what mine is, because I get nothing!

-Health Care: No.
-Dental: No.
-Stock Options: No.
-401k: No.

I dont even know what other benefits come with jobs, because I've never gotten them! But I'm just wondering what everyone else gets or doesnt get.

""""'

I think the man hates people born on 9/24

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by stevew

""""'

I think the man hates people born on 9/24

Maybe it's just certain years. I have full benefits at work. Health, dental, vision, 401k, employee pricing for stocks, life insurance, etc.

/tk

[miked]

-Health Care: Yes (great)
-Dental: Yes (pretty good)
-Stock Options: No
-401k: Well, I get a 403(b). The University contributes 6% on their own, then matches at 2:1. So I contribute 2% and get 9% total each year. Vested after a year.

Good STD and LTD, life insurance (100k I think), and some other goodies.

[Marc Vaughan]

- Health Care: Yes.
- Dental: Yes.
- Stock Options: No.
- 401k: Think so (haven't set this up yet).
- Sundry: Laptop + Desktop computers
- 25 days holiday per annum

[digamma]

Full health and dental premiums for family.
Free $1000 contribution to Flex Spending Account.
$1000 charity contribution match.
50% match on 401(k) up to 6% of salary.
Life insurance at 4x comp.
Profit sharing contribution to 401(k) plan.
$300 fitness stipend.
Honestly not sure how much vacation or sick time we get.

[MizzouRah]

We have excellent benefits here where I work.

Great medical, dential, match 8% of our 401k, legal help, life insurance, STD, LTD, etc...

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I haven'tstarted to put anything into a 401k at work but now that I am 40 and we purchased our house and the first kid is in kindergarten (public) I figured it might be a good time. My company matches .50 cent to the dollar up to 6% of my bi-weekly gross earnings. I am not sure if that is good or not based on the standard 401k others get with jobs. I am wondering with the financial crisis is this a good or bad time to invest in a 401k for retirement?

There is never a bad time to invest in your retirement.

You're about 15 years behind from where you should have started, so yes - get this started immediately.

The financial issues we're in according to many experts is actually good because you're buying cheap.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by lynchjm24

I get medical/dental/vision
28 vacation days
cash value pension
401 k they match half up to 6%
yearly stock grant
std/ltd/life

Your work gives you sexually transmitted diseases? Yikes

[tarcone]

I get full medical but pay $180 a month for family. $20 month for dental.
10 sick days a year
3 personal days
Great retirement. work matches 100% of what I put in (I have no say what I put in). When I retire after 30 years, I get 80% of my my best 3 years salary averaged.
Summers off, Christmas off, Thanksgiving off. Spring Break off.

Im a teacher, by the way.

I love my perks.

[lordscarlet]

For those people that aren't putting into their 401k but get matching: START DOING IT NOW. Even if you do $20 per paycheck, start getting your feet wet. Then, the next time you get a raise, put most or all of that toward 401k and you won't even notice the difference. Putting $20 per paycheck in only takes ~$17 out of your tak ehome pay, $60 out of $100, etc.

[TimGuru]

State of MA

Retirement plan, I pay 8.5% of pay before tax, I can eventually get as much as 80% if I hang in there long enough (80% of everage of 3 highest consecutive years)

Health, I pay 15% (soon to be 20%) they pay rest, great plan
Dental+vision through union

Guaranteed step raise (COLA) on anniversary of hire; also usually a contractual COLA every July
+ Longevity pay

4 weeks vacation
12 sick days, up to 5 can be "bought back" if you use less than 4
4 personal days
Every imaginable holiday (13), and MA has some imaginative ones including St Patricks
Hour for hour comp and paid standby to be available to answer my cell 24/7

$2500 education reimbursement at state colleges, which comes out to $5000 since we also get 50% tuition remission

Every legal pre-tax deduction you can imagine, such as my monthly pass for public transit is taken out pre-tax, and a decent deferred comp (no matching, but no fees)

"Mass Buying Power", consumer discounts on actually useful things (I got 26th row Celtics tickets at 5% off face value last year)

The downsides are all union stuff, 2% dues for minimal representation, and the slacker environement of a union shop. But, I have a reasonably interesting job with a couple of unique projects every year in addition to the routine.

[Klinglerware]

Originally Posted by digamma

Honestly not sure how much vacation or sick time we get.

So, you are a lawyer, no?

[billethius]

I've heard that my benefits are pretty good, but I actually don't have a clue about most of them.

Health/Dental: Mostly covered. I don't ever have to pay anything other than a $10 co-pay for either.
Vacation: Not sure - 2 weeks a year maybe?
Sick days: More than I use. I've heard they also cover long-term disability pretty well, but again, it's not something I've ever used.
Holidays: We only get the major holidays off, but we get something like 11 days at Christmas.
401k: I think they match $0.75 per dollar I put in up to 8% of my salary, which I max out.
Stocks: Get a chunk of stock every other year, plus so many shares for things like getting a degree, getting a promotion, etc...
Profit Sharing: We get a check every February. The last couple of years it's been > 2 extra weeks of pay.
Education: They'll cover tuition for pretty much anything, up to $5k per year un-taxed. After that it's taxed, but that's still better than paying it out-of-pocket.

There's probably some other stuff in there that I'm forgetting. Writing it out here, it doesn't look too bad.

[Pyser]

Originally Posted by Pyser

The skipping work thread made me wonder:

What benefits do you get at work?

I'll tell you right now what mine is, because I get nothing!

-Health Care: No.
-Dental: No.
-Stock Options: No.
-401k: No.

I dont even know what other benefits come with jobs, because I've never gotten them! But I'm just wondering what everyone else gets or doesnt get.

well i finally got 1 benefit. 19% off my verizon bill. whoopee.

[JPhillips]

Pretty good health insurance although Cigna sucks
Dental/Vision shared
10% of salary automatically put in a TIAA-CREF account
Access to all college facilities(pool, gym, etc.)
Eventually two of my children would get free 4 year tuition to consortium schools(generally good liberal arts schools)

[Vegas Vic]

Employer Paid Medical/Dental/Vision
401k - 100% match up to 6% of salary
Defined Contribution Pension Plan
50% discount on company stock
10 paid holidays
18 PTO (used for vacation and sick) days, + 0.5 days per year of service

[SteveMax58]

Just started last month, so this should be easy.

Health/Dental: Yes/Yes 90% Employee/50% Family
Stock: No, not at my level anyway
401k: 66% match up to 10% of salary
Holidays: All the major holidays + 3 personal holidays per year
Vacation/Sick Time: 2 weeks/5 days(I think 5 for sick, cant recall offhand)
Other: Free cable, internet, and phone. Company Blackberry w/ internet, etc.
Education: 100% reimbursement for field related classes/courses up to $7k/yr

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by TimGuru

State of MA

Retirement plan, I pay 8.5% of pay before tax, I can eventually get as much as 80% if I hang in there long enough (80% of everage of 3 highest consecutive years)

Health, I pay 15% (soon to be 20%) they pay rest, great plan
Dental+vision through union

Guaranteed step raise (COLA) on anniversary of hire; also usually a contractual COLA every July
+ Longevity pay

4 weeks vacation
12 sick days, up to 5 can be "bought back" if you use less than 4
4 personal days
Every imaginable holiday (13), and MA has some imaginative ones including St Patricks
Hour for hour comp and paid standby to be available to answer my cell 24/7

$2500 education reimbursement at state colleges, which comes out to $5000 since we also get 50% tuition remission

Every legal pre-tax deduction you can imagine, such as my monthly pass for public transit is taken out pre-tax, and a decent deferred comp (no matching, but no fees)

"Mass Buying Power", consumer discounts on actually useful things (I got 26th row Celtics tickets at 5% off face value last year)

The downsides are all union stuff, 2% dues for minimal representation, and the slacker environement of a union shop. But, I have a reasonably interesting job with a couple of unique projects every year in addition to the routine.

That is very nice. Part of why I work for the state is the benefits, and I thought mine were great, here in LA:

- They pay my medical insurance and most of wife's.

- They cover disability and life insurance after I've been there for 10 years.

- If I stay long enough I can get up to 75% of my highest salary average (3 consecutive years) for the rest of my life. If I retire early (as I probably will), I still get 62.5% for the rest of my life. Also, they pay my wife the same benefit until she dies, if I die first.

- Nearly guaranteed cost of living raise each year.

- Graduated vacation time. Since I've been working here less than 3 years, I only get 2.5 weeks of vacation but that will go up to 3 next year. I also get many holidays paid including today. Also get 2.5 weeks of sick time per year right now which goes up in the future.

- Education leave, 1 paid week per year.

[MrDNA]

Originally Posted by Noble_Platypus

Do hot female co-workers count?

Only if they are available at your discretion.

If yes, please forward your work address.

[JeeberD]

Darden does a pretty good job of taking care of its employees. Health, Vision, Dental (though I'm actually on my wife's plan for these three), 401K, stock option, paid vacation are the basics, and then there's pre-paid legal, short and long term disability, tuition reimbursement, EAP, then the fluff with pet insurance, Apple and HP discounts, adoption reimbursement, discounts with numerous national businesses, etc...

The downside is having to work most holidays.

[judicial clerk]

100% medical, dental and vision with $5 copay
free life insurance 1x salary
discounted addl life insurance and non-job related disability insurance
deferred comp program
pers pension fund (can retire 5 years earlier than other govt employees)
30 days vacation per yr, 10 sick days, but no holidays off
overtime/comp time including min 3 hr callbacks
health savings plan with some sort of employer contribution
up to 8% education/experience bonus
free drycleaning delivered to work
special skills bonuses (ie 2nd language, swat, hnt)
clothing/equipment allowances
immune to prosecution for any traffic violations or non-violent misdemeanors, just kidding. but i do get multiple guns which is like having a second cock, except u could kill somebody with it.
everybody gets tazered. boy, that doesent read like a benefit at all.