The Compensation Game

Piggy Bank

A recent post over on Forbes.com is getting some traction in social media and the perspectives are interesting.

You will find the post in the Dear Liz Ryan column where a writer poses the question as to why he should accept lower pay in exchange of ‘great benefits’ and a tremendous culture.

In this day and age these kinds of claims are a feeble attempt to justify below market compensation and you would do well to really examine the mechanics of a potential offer that might be made to you.

Many things are held up as benefits that a prospective employee should take into consideration but here are a bunch that are influential perhaps but don’t put cash in your pocket and ostensibly don’t have a monetary value when you look at compensation as a defining factor.

Cultural and environmental factors

  • After work socials
  • Annual holiday parties
  • Beer Friday
  • Business casual attire
  • Dress down Friday
  • A flat organization structure
  • A leadership open door policy
  • A fun or cool work space
  • Free hot and cold beverages
  • Snacks
  • Sports event tickets
  • Flexible work from home plans
  • A nice laptop or mobile devices like tablets
  • Corporate apparel
  • A foosball, ping pong table, mini-golf putting course or slot cars
  • A deck, a patio, picnic tables or a basketball hoop
  • Gym equipment, lockers and/or showers
  • Paid company lunches
  • Retailer discount schemes
pay-day-soon[1]

As  compensation plan the  following items are generally accepted as being the norm as part of a compensation package

  • Health plans and benefits
  • Retirement plans and benefits
  • Stock options
  • Personal Performance bonuses
  • Corporate Performance bonuses
  • Paid vacation/time-off
  • Paid sick days
  • Subsidized or paid public transport schemes
  • Subsidized and on-site child care
broken piggy bank

Although these items have value – they are not cash in hand and ultimately that is a heavily influencing factor for employees particularly those with scarce skills. According to a survey conducted by FastCompany  the top five benefits ranked by employees are :

  1. Health care insurance (e.g., medical, dental): 40%
  2. Vacation/paid time off: 37%
  3. Performance bonus: 35%
  4. Paid sick days: 32%
  5. 401(k) plan, retirement plan and/or pension: 31%

Some particularly interesting benefits offered by some prominent companies and cited by folks on Glassdoor are :

  • Google provides the surviving spouse or partner of a deceased employee 50% of their salary for the next 10 years. (Overall benefits rating: 4.6)
  • Adobe shuts down the entire company for one week in December and one week over the summer. (Overall benefits rating: 4.6)
  • Facebook provides $4,000 in “Baby Cash” to employees with a newborn. (Overall benefits rating: 4.7)
  • PwC offers its employees $1,200 per year for student loan debt reimbursement. (Overall benefits rating: 4.0)

With the COVID-19 Pandemic switch to WFH and Hybrid working circumstances for many, this now becomes a significant additional factor in evaluating a prospective employer.