What kind of benefits does your job offer?

[Herman Munster]

I get 20 days of annual leave a year, 13 days of sick leave, 10 federal holidays, flex/time work schedules where I can squeeze an 80 hour pay period into 9 days instead of 10 days so every other Friday is a day off, 401k type account that my employer matches 5% of my income, and health benefits and pension when I retire, and job security that can't be beat.

Of course, there are trade-offs. I make 20% lower in salary than I would make in other jobs in the private sector, but the benefits working for the federal government are hard to beat. I like the trade off I made even if the bureaucracy is stifling, especially when I see my friends scared of losing their jobs and afraid to take their 2 weeks vacation for fear of looking bad and getting the ax when the lay-offs come.

[dsc]

1. I get

health insurance with no premium, self only. 10 sick days. good retirement with health insurance. work for state government (teacher)

[datasuspect]

2. all the free time i could ever want

poverty

no health insurance

that scary feeling of not knowing what will happen next and knowing that whatever happens, you will have no financial control over the situation

get to make creative resumes over and over and over and over

spend quality time with brain damaged HR functionaries and other "decision makers" to be told "we're still looking," "we hired another candidate," or the dreaded " . . . . "

depression



they say you should make looking for your work your full time job.

it's been mine for a number of years now. it's alright, it just doesn't pay actual money.

[SmokingJacket]

3. I work in a book store -- I get a nice discount on books.

That's about it!

[treestar]

4. Every benefit I can think of and afford

I'm self employed. :woohoo:

[wain]

5. What's the point of this post?

A lot of us are not in such a position.

Anyway, welcome to DU.

[AngryAmish]

6. None

I'm self employed so I get to keep all the money.

[liberal N proud]

7. I am one of the lucky ones, but each year we all wonder how much longer

We have a good health care package, a good dental package, neither is as good as it was 22 years ago when I started with the company.
We have a paid life insurance plan plus a supplemental available to us.

I have 36 days of vacation of which 3 are used if you get sick, Stay healthy and you get all 36.

We have a 401 K, as well as a pension plan.

There is more but again, each year they take something away or raise the deductibles and each year coming into October, the rumors all start and the speculation on how much longer will we have these benefits. We all know it is coming to an end one of these years. It was pretty good until about 5 years ago.

[Pharaoh]

8. Just about the time Bush took over n/t

[liberal N proud]

11. Very shortly after, you could quickly feel the rumblings of change

Of course the life long republican sluts just sat there and said, this is for the best and it couldn't last forever. Even when it was hitting them in the pocketbook.

[cyclezealot]

31. A friend of ours has not had a pay raise in like four years.

Reason, to keep paying the insurance company premimums. They rise faster than the overall cost of living. There are predictions that say, the rate of rise of health insurance premimums, so many years from now- health care will consume %100 of the US economy. GDP. I'd say at that rate, sooner or later she will be without health insurance, because health insurance premimums are rising faster than the companies growth.
Can't Americans figure this Out? She is against single payer too. We give up. What other solutions are they , that don't entrench the present absurd system.

[Maine-ah]

9. nothing.

1 week paid vactation per year. That's it.

[cyclezealot]

10. Americans are silly people

We worked to put single payer on the ballot in California in the mid 90's. With $50 million of attack dollars from the insurance companies for TV, we didn't have a chance. But, working door to door, citizens often were just disinteresed in anything we had to say. The conversation ended when they said, we have good insurance. I am not interested. Doing them a favor, they acted like we were selling them vacuums. All the work to put in on the ballot. too.
So each year more and more Americans are without insurance. We tried to tell them, you have insurance now. What makes you think it will always be there.
After that election, we felt US democracy hopeless and sort of lost enthusism for getting involved for all time.
We now live in Europe. THis government treats us better than our own. For $176 a month, since we are non citizens. We get reliable insuracne, with a defined $3 deductible. Includes doctors visits.
It also includes medicines and DENTAL. Such a package in the US would cost over $1000 a month, and I bet the deductible would be more than $3. Good luck to all.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. I thought it was hard to emigrate to an EU country

:shrug:

[cyclezealot]

20. IT is . we are semi retired.

Our type of visa allows us to work part time or run our business. It will only be granted when you prove self sufficiency along with a certain amount of assets. Our visa allows us to buy into their insurance programs, tho.
A pretty good deal. Conceivable , we could go back to Calif. , some day. I'd say utilities are about 1/3 California costs. But, only go back after our Social Security kicks in to pay for increased US costs. BUt, then with the lousy Part D pharmacy benefits it US and no dental. Maybe not. And maybe the US will be deep in a theocracy by then.? Sure have more diversity of opinion found in the media over here. And France might very well have a socialist woman president to inspire the world too.?
Odd, the Socialist party over here, lets foreigners work within their party. We can help nominate and vote for their candidates in the party caucuses, but we of course can't vote in the national elections.
Socialism of course is an international organization. Sort of fun.

[cyclezealot]

32. Forgot to mention.

One of the reasons we escaped - the US health care system. My wife had cancer. It took our HMO over three months to get us a referral to a specialist. They did all they could to jeopardize my wife's life. Our surgeon said we came close. THe surgeons' reaction, when she met us, was in awe.
Had they got the lesion when it was in the infant stage, probably radiation would have been unnecessary.
Their stupid system cost them radiation. Now, they do all they can to deny us semi annual MRI's.
Are we bitter about the US health care system. Most definitely, yes.
We reported our medical nightmare to Michael Moore in his production of his new Movie, "Sicko." He emailed all that that he had over 20,000 nightmare cases similiar to ours, reported to him for his inclusion in his movie.
US health care. No HMO's here . Maybe, A reason to stay put.

[izzie]

12. I worked for my self and so did my father. Now that is a question

In that spot I would say the only thing going for you is you can aim the income in such a way as not to pay tax on all the income. I do not mean cheat but you have big over heads to run businesses. That helps your retirement which you have to do by your self or had to until SS started picking up those people. And you pay both sides. It does hit you at tax time. Or I think they started getting it every quarter but for a while it was yours for the year and could also earn money on the money your were going to have to pay.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. I'm self-employed and get whatever benefits I can buy myself

This includes barely discernible health insurance. :-(

The upside is freedom to set my own schedule and the potential to earn lots and lots of money (or ennsy teensy bits of money) depending on the month.

[Wcross]

15. Fairly good benefits.

Eventually will have six weeks vacation (I have 4 now), 7 sick days a year plus 2 personal business. I work 7 days every two weeks (12 hour shifts). Health and dental plan which I pay some of the premium for. A 401k plan and a pension plan. I also get a discount on tire purchases.

[davidwparker]

16. I originally worked for the government and then went to private

sector. Prefer private sector as it moves faster. Right now, it's not as secure as the gov't, but that largely do to the effects of that NAFTA-signing Clinton followed by 3 branches run by the GOP under the dumbest member of the Bush Crime Family.

[Rosemary2205]

17. Multi-state private business.

Admin assistant in HR with 8yrs experience. No college.

My bennies are 1 week paid vacation and 3 paid sick days. Christmas, Good Friday, Thanksgiving paid holidays. Company pays 50% of healthcare, dental and vision and 6 months of disability premiums. $5000 company paid life insurance.

Note, vacations must be scheduled whenever our owner does his yearly conferences. He basically pays our way for a week someplace wonderful (2006 was in Washington DC - 2007 was scheduled at Disney World but was changed to Wyoming) -- he hires tour operators for a wide variety of activities, pays our lodging and tickets for worker and spouse and will get us discounts for adding on the kids.

My best bennie ever was to be the one to call Disney and cancel for 2007 in protest of the 911 Drama on ABC.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

18. 1 week vacation a year.....

and medical benefits that only 20% of which is covered by my employer. No dental, no optical, no retirement. Unfortunately, I make so little money there I can't afford what they offer, so I got zilch. At least I get sick days (within reason).

[elocs]

19. I have no job. I have no health insurance. I have no benefits. n/m

[RB TexLa]

21. self-employed, whatever benefits I chose to purchase

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

22. 20 Days Vac, Unlimited Paid Sick, 14 Holidays, 50cent For Every Dollar

401k, probably 80% paid of amazing health coverage, great place to work, job security, paid schooling and pension.

[MercutioATC]

23. Same benefits + early retirement (air traffic controller)

The paycheck and the job security are great. The incompetent morons I work for aren't.

[sakabatou]

24. Since I'm part-time

I don't know if it's good or not

Full-health coverage (medical/dental)
Flexible time schedule
I only get federal holidays off

[RebelOne]

25. I have excellent benefits, but of course, I work for a very

large media corporation. I have 4 weeks vacation, 10 sick days, 3 personal days and all federal holidays. My medical benefits also include eye care and dental. My employer matches my 401K by 50%. The only problem is that the pay sucks. But I am in the Atlanta metro area where the pay scale is not so good anyway.

[Keefer]

26. I am entitled to...

10 vacation days a year for the first five years. I'm in year #3 right now.
48 hours of "PTO" time. Must be used in increments of 4 hours.
14 paid holidays per year.
Great health insurance, 50% paid by company. (Right now it costs me $125.00/mo. This will go down dramatically in January because I quit smoking in March.)
Great dental $4.61/mo.
Great vision $4.64/mo.
401k matched up to 5% of gross pay.
Short term disability first 3 months FMLA + 3 more months/FREE
Quarterly profit sharing bonuses and yearly gain sharing bonus.
$5000 life insurance/Free

I have a great job. :)

[Cobalt Violet]

27. 1 week vacation after a year.

3 paid holidays if those days fall on a day one is normally scheduled to work.
40% discount on professional hair products

No sick time. And idiots are always coming in with the flu, and colds.

[FILAM23]

28. And this is the reason

I want to smack every govt employee who gives bad service to the public
and bitches about being underpaid..It's time to lower federal pay and
benefits and cut the federal workforce by at least 30%

edited to add: I work for a small business (total of 7 people and 3 of them
are co-owners)But I get 4 weeks vacation
1 bereavement day
One continuing education trip (paid by company)
$5000 per year medical benefit
A SEP IRA completely funded by my company, percentage
based on profits, last year we all got 22% of annual salary.
An average work week of 22 hours
An annual Christmas bonus of $500 minimum


DISADVANTAGES: 1 of the 3 co-owners is a lazy, lying POS and is
starting to drag down his partners
I am on call every other week (all week) but hardly
ever get called in

[MercutioATC]

29. So let me get this straight...

You work, on average, 11 hours a week (22-hour week with every other week "on call"). You get full-time benefits and a fully-funded 401k. Your employer provides for continuing education.

Yet you begrudge federal employees (who work 40+ hours per week) the compensation they get (which, might I add, is not nearly as generous as yours)?

There are employees in ALL fields who provide poor service. That's not a reason, IMO, to advocate "lower(ing) federal pay and benefits and cut(ting) the federal workforce by at least 30%"

[FILAM23]

35. Actually

it is 22 hours a week plus on call 24 hours a day Monday thru Sunday every other week.
And the only federal employee my compensation is better then is someone fairly
low on the federal pay scale. I know GS 4's make a higher salary then I do.

And the reason I advocate cutting federal work force by 30% is because the federal
govt is way overbloated. So if you cut pay and benefits you reduce the incentive
for people to live a life sucking at Uncle Sam's teat.
And yes there are people in ALL fields that provide poor service,
as they say everyone has their 10%, however in the federal civil service it has been my
observation it is the 10% who do their job and the other 90% who are arrogant and uncivil
when dealing with the public.

[MercutioATC]

40. Something you may want to consider...

While my actual salary is higher than yours, I don't enjoy benefits that are even close...and I'm near the top in regard to federal employee compensation.

I'm sorry that you've had bad experiences with "bad" federal employees. However, the group of people I work with (air traffic controllers) work hard every day to provide the service we're paid to provide, and we feel a personal committment to our job...and we're going through exactly what you propose.

We're facing pay cuts for veteran controllers, a new pay scale for new controllers that's roughly 30% below what the rest of us make, staffing cuts, scheduling changes that only guarantee us two weeks off per year, etc....all as a result of the FAA bypassing collective bargaining and imposing a set of work rules.

I understand your position. I'd caution you, however, to consider some of the services the federal government provides you (like air traffic control) before advocating huge pay and staffing cuts.

Some of us (and I'm sure there are plenty of non-controller federal government employees that fall into this category) are committed to providing the best service we can...yet we'd still be harmed if your call for pay cuts and a 30% reduction in force were implemented.

[Jed Dilligan]

30. And I want to smack...

well, never mind.

:rolleyes:

[cyclezealot]

33. " I can Feel Your Pain."

Where did I hear that. ? I think your conclusions are counter productive to your own interests. The reason working class people in the US are shafted is because social systems like health care and pensions are not placed under public control, so you'd have a say in how your pension funds are invested and or administered. When it is done privately, lord only knows what con games can be done to your money. WHether it be the Teamsters union or Investment bankers.
MOst of the civilized world have 'socialized systems', dont get excited. That only means they are under public control; that does not mean Joseph Stalin handles your future.
When Americans wake up and see how the rest of the world handles issues like health care and pensions, will they see what solutions are available to themselves. Almost anyone need know, most of the world, benefits are much more secure compared to the questionable system found in the US.
And I assure you pull down one element of society, it will turn around and bite yourself.
And don't stereotype. Appearances are deceiving. You take on a job dealing with the public. you might be surprised how stressful that can be. Do you resent that firemen when he stands in the falling tembers of your home , risking his life for your stuff.

[FILAM23]

36. I do deal with the public

don't find it stressful at all.
Don't resent the fireman at all, in fact believe him underpaid. My complaint
is federal employes, not state, city or local.

[FILAM23]

37. Considering the way govt screws uo most things

I'm not so sure I want them to have any damn thing to do with my health care
and/or investments.

[cyclezealot]

38. I bovernment does not screw up everything.

Before Bush II, Medicare was run perfectly. The way medicine need be practiced. Underfunding will destroy any decent program. Bush as Gingrich said, 'let it wither on the vine.' They meant it. And Blue Cross HMO is an example of health care at it's best? We've had our run ins. No Thanks. Stay tuned for Michael Moore's film, "Sicko."

[FILAM23]

39. Bush has certainly underfunded Medicare but it was never run

perfectly.Many payments to providers were being cut in the 90's.
It was in the 90's that Dr's started refusing new Medicare Pt's
because reimbursement was dropping. But it definitely has accelerated
under Bush.

[cyclezealot]

42. my older family members never had the problems

in getting needed services that WE did under Blue Cross HMO. the problem was so great, it jeopardized our lives. Unsure about Medicare cuts under Clinton. I advocate a plan where on the government finances our healthcare with a certain percent of our taxes, corporate and personal, mandated to our medical care pool and the goverment is required to leave it untouched for solely our health care. That would be the law.

[raccoon]

44. You must have insurance through your employer, yes?

So far.

[cyclezealot]

46. You are right.

there are no guraantees. It can be cancelled at a moments notice.

[shadowknows69]

34. I can pee at my own toilet

cab driver. that's about it.

[midnight armadillo]

41. Free health care

Yup, that's right, free HMO-based healthcare. Highish co-pays, but I don't pay into it. $750 dental work reimbursed annually. 4 weeks plus a bunch of other holidays off, flex time, and I don't really have a boss. 401k last year was 10% of salary, plus we're emploee owned, I got 3wks paternity leave, and last year bonuses were over 10% and I got a 6% raise on top of a very competitive salary.

Yes, this is real, no, we're not hiring, and yes, I know how damn lucky I am.

[cyclezealot]

43. Health care in the US is not free.

It's absurd cost structure and waste. It is not free, the best health services the luckiest of us get, costs our companies way above what it's overseas competitors pay. The cost of the most expensive health care system in the world is it encourages the outshoring of our jobs.

[raccoon]

45. Zero. Zip. Nada. Rien.

I work at a state agency. A woman in HR told me a few years ago that 50% of the employees there are hourly workers, no benefits.

I have an individual insurance policy, FWIW. High deductible, basically catastrophic insurance.

[LWolf]

47. I am a salaried employee with a daily rate of pay.

I am paid to work 190 days a year. In this case, there are two different definitions of "day." The contractual "day" sets hours I have to be physically present at my place of business. IA contractual "day," however, is as long as it takes to get the job done. That is a minimum of ten hours, whether I come early, stay late, or take work home. That ten hours includes working during my 30 minute lunch, fork in one hand and phone or pencil in the other, and does not include any "breaks." I'm not paid by the hour, so there is no "overtime" for hours past 8. I can rush to the restroom only when some other official adult is "on duty."


In addition to the contractual "days," I'm also required to do a minimum of "150 hours" of professional development each year; that would be 15 of those 10 hour work days, or 18.75 (8) hour work days. I'm also expected to be available by phone evenings and weekends when "customers" need to ask questions, etc., outside the previously stated days and hours. Then there is about least a week of official "training/workshop/inservices" that I must attend annually, and on-going college classes to maintain my licence, at my own expense, regardless of what degrees I hold.

Compensation? My profession is one of the lowest-paid for college graduates in the nation. Decent benefits and retirement package, but my oldest son, who stopped at an AA degree and never had to pay student loans, brings home a bigger paycheck than I do.