Dishing About Salary and Benefits With Friends

I would love to hear what you and your friends have to say. I am the head of compensation and benefits at a mid-size software company, and do believe that the plans, industry and legislative environment have contributed to the confusion rather than helping individuals understand what they need to know.

We do more than most companies to try to educate our employees, by conducting monthly seminars, ranging on topics from retirement to adoption assistance, and have recently rolled out a competency module designed to help our employees understand what is required if they want to continue to advance their career.

However, salary tends to be a very personal conversation. I have negotiated deals from Secretaries to C-Suite Executives, and at the end of the day, it still comes down to a very personal negotiation. Sometimes people are concerned whether they will be sponsored by the company for the country club membership, and other times, they are concerned about whether or not we will pay for their degree. Most companies have a very narrow range that they will negotiate on salary based on a combination of internal and external factors.

What's really interesting, is that the corporate employers have accepted the job of providing benefits to the masses, without ever being told that they have to. There is no law which requires companies to provide benefits. The Defined Benefit pension plans got into trouble when Nafta included a clause which tied the pension funding to the prime lending rate, rather than being set by the PBGC, and as a result only about 10% of private pensions have remained. In other words the PBGC was holding down the funding requirements, when it shifted to the prime rate, companies couldn't afford the pensions, so they looked to get out.

If we are not careful, Health Care could go the way of pensions. Health Care is a national issue, and one that increases every year at a double digit rate. I'm not sure how much your company increases subscription fee's but I'm sure it's not double digit...nor does my company.

I've read recently that folks making $40k / year are starting to go without healthcare due to the cost....and when they get sick, they visit the ER...and sometimes they will pay, but if they can't the hospitals and insurance companies write the debt off and as a result your premium and mine increase at double digit rates to pay for the folks who don't have insurance.

I really enjoyed your article, and again would love to hear more.

David Kirby of VA 9:09AM May 19, 2008