Employee Benefits
© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.
Adapted from the Field
Guide to Leadership and Supervision.
Employee benefits typically refers to retirement plans, health life insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, vacation, employee stock ownership plans, etc. Benefits are increasingly expensive for businesses to provide to employees, so the range and options of benefits are changing rapidly to include, for example, flexible benefit plans.
Benefits are forms of value, other than payment, that are provided to the employee in return for their contribution to the organization, that is, for doing their job. Some benefits, such as unemployment and worker's compensation, are federally required. (Worker's compensation is really a worker's right, rather than a benefit.)
Prominent examples of benefits are insurance (medical, life, dental, disability, unemployment and worker's compensation), vacation pay, holiday pay, and maternity leave, contribution to retirement (pension pay), profit sharing, stock options, and bonuses. (Some people would consider profit sharing, stock options and bonuses as forms of compensation.)
You might think of benefits as being tangible or intangible. The benefits listed previously are tangible benefits. Intangible benefits are less direct, for example, appreciation from a boss, likelihood for promotion, nice office, etc. People sometimes talk of fringe benefits, usually referring to tangible benefits, but sometimes meaning both kinds of benefits.
You might also think of benefits as company-paid and employee-paid. While the company usually pays for most types of benefits (holiday pay, vacation pay, etc.), some benefits, such as medical insurance, are often paid, at least in part, by employees because of the high costs of medical insurance.
Sections of This Topic Include:
BasicsPlanning a Benefits Program
Buying Benefits
Additional Information for Nonprofits
Basics
U.S. Department of LaborPlanning a Benefits Program (Various Perspectives)
Benefits Planing and Outreach
BenefitsLink (search for
"plan" in the search window on that page)
Planning a program in Canada
Buying Benefits
About.com's many resourcesEmployment and HR topics for small business
buying life insurance -- small businesses
on-the-job benefits for employees
General Resources
Employee Benefits Links We Like, by TopicGuide To Salary / Compensation And Human Resource / Personnel Sites
BenefitsLink(tm) - The National Employee Benefits Website
Benefits - Human Resources Net Links (search for "benefits" in the search window at this site)
BenefitsLink(tm) - The National Employee Benefits Website
Additional Information for Nonprofits
Various information for nonprofits
For the Category of Human Resources:
Related Library Topics
Recommended Books
For-Profit
Field
Guide to Leadership and Supervision in Business
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit and retain the best employees for your business. Research shows that employee turnover is often the result of poor supervision -- this book shows you how to supervise employees so that the needs of both the business and its emplyees are always being met. Includes tips and tools to effectively lead yourself, other individuals, groups and organizations. Also includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem, especially among employees of small businesses.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Nonprofit
Field
Guide to Leadership and Supervision With Nonprofit Staff
- by Carter McNamara, published by Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Provides step-by-step, highly practical guidelines to recruit and retain the best staff members for your nonprofit. Includes guidelines to effectively lead yourself (as a Board member or a staff member), other individuals, groups and the nonprofit organizations. Includes guidelines to avoid burnout -- a very common problem among nonprofit staff. Explains how to cultivate a strong relationship between the Board and Execuive Director. This book is customized to nature and needs of nonprofits having extremely limited resources.
The following books are recommended because of their highly practical nature and often because they include a wide range of information about this Library topic. To get more information about each book, just hover your cursor over the image of the book. A "bubble" of information will be displayed. You can click on the title of the book in that bubble to get more information, too.
Also See
Personal Development -- Recommended Books
Personal Productivity -- Recommended Books
Personal Wellness -- Recommended Books
Supervision -- Recommended Books
Training and Development -- Recommended Books
