September 2008 Weddings
xojo1
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Employee Benefits You Receive [Poll]
Out of curiosity and to help with a work related task, I am curious to know what non monetary benefits you receive, or would like to receive at your current employer. Or, ones that you received at past employers that you enjoyed.
I'm excluding health/dental/vision insurance and retirement plans from the non monetary category because they all cost the employer out of pocket.
Re: Employee Benefits You Receive [Poll]
well technically vacation is a monetary benefits, but i do have good vacation.
At my last job I could remote in to do work, which was nice in bad weather, being sick, when i missed work for class 4-6 hrs/week. I can't do that anymore.
Here I have free access to the student gym, which is seriously the size of the gym in the condo I rented in grad school.
ETA: I would like more opportunity to work from home.
Tuition reimbursement for non premium programs. But thats about all unless you count vacation. Our sick time does roll over, if you have more than 200 hours you can use it towards early retirement, however, I am sure that is soon to be cut!
I would like the opportunity to work from home, which is not offered or discussed currently. Every program that I use is available on a home computer and I do not need a secure login, which is why I am irritated that its not offered or available.
We can get two classes reimbursed a year, I've heard it's very hard to get it approved, especially lately.
We have a very nice employee discount on all products from here.
We can cash in our sick if they are not used and get paid for them, we have 5 per year.
We have a retirement plan but I don't how much longer that will last.
We get a lot of discount passes for movies, skiing, amusement parks, etc.
There is a big free Christmas party for everyone's kids and grandkids each year.
They make us lunch very often especially on snowy days and there are always tons of vendor freebies around.
We also get paid time and half and holiday pay on holidays, 6 of them.
Our insurance benefits are very good.
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We have vehicle reimbursement (but I think that is going away) if you drive more than 5 hrs for your job.
We have tuition reimbursement up to $5,000/semester. I loved this b/c it can include any kind of test
We have an optional 457 plan that if employees want to put into. Employer pays nothing.
We have FSA (flexible spending account) and also child care/dependent care account. The FSA has saved my life esp when DH got dental work shortly after we were married. Also, it has paid for all the IF meds and doc visits.
I would love to have a gym or some kind of reimbursement for joining one.
Our agency used to have a child care center on site years ago but they closed it down. I think it had to do with the costs and liability. Sigh, I wish they had that.
I can't think of any I receive here or that I've received at any job.
We do wear jeans here and that's nice and I don't think it affects anyone's performance.
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I didn't think about this... but yes.
Bank holidays, 11 a year unless one falls on a Saturday then you don't get it.
Other than that....2 weeks vacation (doesn't roll over), 6 days sick (rolls over), they pay $350/month towards insurance if you opt for it, I'm on DH's insurance though and don't receive any extra benefit.
No work from home, wear business casual on Fridays. There aren't really any great perks to working here other than the random bank holidays.
Hmmm. Not much if we can't count insurance, disability insurance etc.
I get a coupon every year for my birthday for a free scoop of frozen custard
There is a company picnic every other summer at the milwaukee zoo. I've never been though because it always ends up being when I am out of town.
I get 4 wks paid time off (vacation/sick days).
We get certain corporate discounts at stores, hotels, gyms, etc. But the selection is limited and centered around milwaukee which is an hour away, so it really doesn't apply to us. Our clinic is like the unloved step-child!
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I am not sure if this is a benefit, but we have a 9/80 work schedule.
For example, this week: M-Th I work 9 hrs. Friday I work 8
Next week, I work M-Th and have Friday off
The following week off on Monday (President's Day) and working Tues-Fri.
It is has its perks esp when I have a four day weekend (like next wknd) or a 3 day work week off on a Monday b/c of a holiday and then our Friday off.
definitely a benefit in my eyes! I wish my new job was more flexible. Maybe when I've been there longer I can look into it.
I also am not sure if I can wear jeans here. I used to wear jeans a few days/month.
EAP that helps with the costs of a lot of personal things...counseling, financial planning, legal, etc. (I just found out today I get 25% off all my legal fees because my attorney is on the panel they refer from)
3 "floating holidays" that can be use on any day of the year kind of like bonus vacation days
Discounts on insurance programs for completeing various health-related activities...on-site health assessment, flu shots, non-smoking certification, etc.
Company store where all Kellogg/Keebler/Kashi/Sunshine/Famous Amos/etc items are $1.50/package
Tomorrow we're all getting free breakfast catered in "just to boost morale".
Summer hours -- we can leave at noon on Friday's if we have our 40 hours in. We do rotate to ensure someone from each area is in the office until at least 3pm each Friday, but the rest of us can leave at noon. Summer hours actually run from time change to time change, so like mid-March through early November.
ETA: We also get to wear jeans every Friday, all year round.
We work 9/80 schedules but since we have furloughs now we can opt to just have every Friday off if we'd like (I choose to work 3 hours on the days I furlough). If there were no furloughs we'd be on the same exact schedule as Amy.
$630 toward medical insurance plus there's incentives and programs that allow discounts. If we complete certain activities that have to do with our health and wellness we get $50 off our medical monthly. Oh and chiropractic visits are included in my insurance plan! My plan also pays a portion (50%??) of infertility treatments. $5 copay.
We bank holidays. For example tomorrow is my regular day off (9/80 schedule) but it's a holiday for us so since I already am off I can choose to bank the holiday or get paid out for it.
We get 2 weeks vacation. After 3 or 5 years it's 3 weeks and then eventually 4.
Sick days...13 I believe. Also, we bank overtime at time and a half hours up until we hit a full 40hrs at which time we can continue to bank to 120 hours or get paid out.
There's tuition reimbursement and a percentage pay increase for some positions if we hold degrees. The higher the degree the higher the percentage.
There's free family, drug, etc. counseling. We get x amount of visits free. Family planning, legal, etc.
Tons of discounts for law enforcement at various places like theme parks, gyms, restaurants, gun shops, snowboarding, etc.
We leave early on major holidays and usually can wear jeans those days but none of this is for sure. Depends on how the big bosses feel.
HUGE county wide company picnic where they have live bands, law enforcement demonstrations, food, auctions, etc.
$2 meals at the jail's staff cafeteria. I am talking full on 5 course meals like ribs, salad, soup, dessert, shrimp, etc. It's amazing.
There's rideshare programs and if we have at least 4 people carpooling we can use a county vehicle for a fee. They also have buses or trams that I can take to the different stations from my house should I need it to get to work. Can't do that yet since I pick up Suri.
Retirement is really good. I pay 8% for 5 years and that's all. If I go into the corrections field (started the process) then I only have to put in for 3 years and can retire at 50...but you don;t get much at 50. We also have other retirement programs outside the main one.
We are union.
We have FSA although I haven't put into that yet. It's for medical, childcare expenses and thins like that.
We have it pretty good. I give people that have worked there for a million years the side eye when they complain. I came from the private industry and had crap benefits. I don't think I will ever complain about how nice I have it at my current job. I think they just forgot what it's like to be in the private sector and how crappy it can be.
CRAFTY ME
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Thank you all SO much!
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I work at a university.
University wide: We get 12 holidays, unlimited sick (assuming you don't take advance of having it), 15 vacation days during your 1st year, 20 vacation days every year after the 1st year, an additional 5 days on the 10th, 15th, 20th, etc anniversaries, you can carry over a max of 40 vacation days, tuition reimbursement (1 class per semester ~ $5000/year). I think there's a discount or incentive for using the gym on campus but I'm not sure what it is, 50% subsidy on public transit passes, and they offer discounted tickets to concerts, museums, etc. Full internet access.
Things specific for my lab/boss: I can wear whatever I want (HQ type offices usually dress up though - business casual), as long as I'm hear between 10am-3pm I can work whatever 8 hour chunk I want.since its in the other responses I'll throw in the rest of mine (also monetary in my mind)
I currently get the week of Christmas off and 20 days vacation (acrueed through the year; I can carry 20 here and could carry 24 at my old job), and university holidays. I think there's 9 or 10. At my old job I had 12 sick days and we banked unused ones up to 90. Here I get 14, 5 of which can be used as personal days, bank caps at 200 or something ridiculous like that. I get my transit tickets pretax (no idea if the univ pays for this as it is a tax benefit). My health insurance is good and inexpensive, aside from the taxes I pay on C's coverage (which, again, is a federal issue to the tune of $250/mo or so but I'll stay off my soapbox). I get tuition remission for classes within the university (have to pay taxes on it since I have a bachelors; this was ~$1700/class at Penn); I will not be using it here though.
At Penn I had a 6.5% match on my 5% retirmenet contribution. Here is it 8% on my 3.5%, and I can put up to $15k more away (hahahaah) pretax as well (Penn only let you do 5% pretax, no idea why). I also have full FSA, Dependent FSA, etc. I think it caps at $5k and $7k respectively here but am not positive.
At this job I am union. I have no idea what this really means other than I am sort of guarenteed an annual raise as provided in the step guidelines,except the university system is almost bankrupt and there is likely to be a salary freeze this year, so no beans for me.
There's also some random discounts but nothing useful to me.
Are you compiling this for a report? I'm curious
I know higher ed agencies tend to have nice benefits which It hink really helps with the poor pay.
Not exactly. It's union related. I'm on the negotiation team and we are starting negotiations soon. If you have paid attention to Illinois, you could guess why I want ideas that won't exactly cost the agency out of pocket. We haven't had raises in 3 years
We have great basic benefits, which is why I was looking for things outside the box. My health/dental/vision benefits are great (state benefits) and I'm in the university retirement system and have the option to contribute to a 403b (although, there is no match on that). I get 40 days PTO each year when you combine vacation, sick, floating holidays, and personal days plus another 9 holidays. At five years (August 2012) I will get 3 more vacation days.
We're trying to think outside the box for things we could ask for. I think telecommuting and education incentives will be big. We might also ask for the week off between Christmas and the New Year since nearly all colleges are closed.
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This!!
I didn't reply before because I was curious about your monetary qualifier (doesn't every benefit, even "soft pretzel day," cost the employer something?).
This isn't my job yet, but I'm hopeful after a very good interview; the position that is seriously considering me has these:
Free tuition for either my spouse or child for a BS or BA, and free tuition for me to get a MS or MA. I would seriously consider the master's in education because that counts as my professional development for promotions.
Once my child is college age, they could participate in the tuition exchange program with hundreds of other schools (including B and my alma maters). For as many kids as we have. This alone makes it worth it, even though profs at the types of schools I am considering don't make a ton of money.
Even though I only got retirement at my current job for 5 months (the second semester I was employed full time they started), this new place will roll that over immediately and contribute 6% to my 5%. Usually new hires have to wait a full year before the university contributes.
I can audit any course on campus. This university offers music lessons and art classes, so I'm hoping those count, too!
Occasional sabbaticals. 9 month/year contract, with the option of teaching summer classes for extra money. Even though it is salaried, we have the option of occasionally teaching an overload semester for extra money. Free access to the brand new university health center, with a nice indoor track and treadmills with tvs. They will send security for free to come pick me up at the closest train station if I decide that's the way I want to commute. Discount at the bookstore.
Then the normal healthcare (for me, I don't pay anything out of pocket, we would have to pay for the rest of the family), EAP, etc etc.
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I work in a VERY casual office full of other sports administration folks. Jeans, track suits (like team wind suits and jackets) are pretty much the norm around here.
Our hours are pretty flexible. If you want to come in at 9 and leave at 4, that's cool cuz other times we end up doing things on weekends when we're in competition season so the hours all even out.
On Wednesdays we often all go out for drinks after work. It's a nice way to socialize with everyone (including some of our board members who don't work in the office), and often the CEO will pick up the tab.
I was having a hard time getting what I wanted in words because of this. I disqualified insurance and retirement because we receive those through the state - meaning, it isn't up to our agency heads to decide. They also are large, out-of-pocket expenses. I think I was going to for things like flexible schedules, telecommuting, casual attire, group rates at gyms, etc.
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That makes much more sense - things your agency heads have control over. Thanks for clearing it up. I have a feeling that soft pretzels cost a little less than healthcare!
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good luck. i am sure its hard negotiating. I've only been here 3.5 weeks and I've already heard the union is gearing up for a battle due to budget cuts.