A good job provides you with more than just a salary. There’s the personal stuff like a reason to
put pants on in the morning and all that, but there are also benefits, which
are only a step or two removed from them just giving you more money. But there are a lot of considerations to make
when you’re selecting your benefits, and a lot of new lingo to understand. I just got a job and therefore got my grubs
on a sweet Massachusetts General Hospital benefits package and there was a lot
to wade through. So in this series, I’ll try to cover as much as I
can about your benefits. If you don't have a "real job" with benefits and you're feeling sad about it it might be time to revisit this classic.
I’ll use my brand spankin new benefit package as a guide,
and try to include information about some other common benefits. Please keep in mind that different employers
have very different benefits systems and yours may not look at all like
mine. I work for a major hospital and
hospitals generally give top of the line benefits so keep that in mind. Healthcare keeps company with other
industries that usually have great benefits: government, financial services,
manufacturing and high tech. Industries
that don’t stack up include retail, food service, and small employers who
usually can’t afford it. We’ll start out
with the smaller, easier stuff and wait a while to talk about the heavy
hitters, like health insurance and retirement plans. You can get a lot out of your benefits if you
take full advantage of them, so get to know what’s available by reviewing any
materials they gave you when you started or getting in touch with your HR
department.
Eligibility- At most
places, you become eligible for benefits when you are a full time
employee. By law, your employer needs to
offer you insurance if you work 40 hours a week on average. At some places, people who work 35 are
considered full time. At MGH, anyone who
works 20 hours a week is benefits eligible.
Tuition
Assistance/Reimbursement- With this benefit, your employer helps pay for
your next degree! Often it’s with the
understanding that you’ll use it to work for them, so it may require a
commitment, or they might just cover a degree that could be relevant for
working there. I obviously can’t tell
you what is available to you so if you’re thinking of
going back to school call up your new buds at HR and say “Does [place you work]
have a tuition assistance program? Can I get some information?” This can enable
you to get a degree part time while making your current salary and offsetting
the cost of tuition, and all your friends who are in grad school full time can
eat their hearts out.
Paid time off- This one is my favorite benefit. The
general gist is that as you work, you “earn time” that you can use to make your
normal paycheck while also not being at work.
Many places divide this up into categories- personal time (meant for
going to appointments, taking your kids on field trips, whatever) vacation (for
vacations, duh) and sick time (occasional, unplanned absences because you’re
sick. Or because you’re SICK of work am
I right?!?!?!?!) At my job, I just get 4.75 hours in my “bank” for every week I
work, and then I can use it however I want. I plan to stash mine up in my cheeks like a
squirrel preparing for winter. Find out
how it works at your job, you’ll want to know:
- How fast does time accrue? (remember interest, guys? Accrue just means “build up” in fancy)
- Are there maximums on the time you can earn?
- Is it a “use it or lose it” situation or will your time roll over from year to year?
- Can you “cash out” your time? In what scenarios?
- Are there paid holidays outside of accrued time? If you work in a school for instance, you might have school breaks off and still get paid and then the time you can take when you chose would build up more slowly.
Because this is America, nobody actually has to allow you to
accrue paid time. BUT you are entitled
to take some leave when you or a family member needs medical care without it
costing you your job under the Family Medical Leave Act. There is also a thing called the Small Necessities Leave Act, that protects you when you have to take off for personal or family needs. You’ll have to do a
bunch of paperwork about it but it’s an important protection you should know
about, especially if you or anyone under your care (parents included!) have any
chronic or recurring problems.
Transit- In
Boston, like many other cities, lots of employers will allow you to buy a
monthly transit pass at a discounted rate or give you a deal on parking. You may even have access to a shuttle service.
It may also be possible to get a
little tax break on your transportation expenses, but we’ll save the tax talk
for next time. If you're spoiled like me you get all of the above. What I'm trying to say is, we're hiring. And I'd really like a lunch buddy.
