Answer the following in detail:
1. How would you define employee compensation & benefits? Describe the compensation & benefits you receive at your organization and discuss which are the most important or valuable to you.
2. In understanding why employers offer benefits to employees, discuss the effects government mandated benefits have on wages and profits. Is government intervention a positive or negative issue for organizations? Employees? Employers? What might wages and benefits look like if government was taken out of the equation?
3. Imagine that you have just started a new job with an organization and during the socialization process an HR benefits counselor has offered you two types of retirement plans to choose from; a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan. Which would you select? Why?
4. How important is obtaining health care insurance from your employer? Do you have access to health care insurance from your present employer? What do you suppose the future of health care insurance looks like from an employers perspective? From an employee's perspective? Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future of health care insurance? Explain.
5. From your readings and research it should be apparent that many feel the future of Social Security is at risk. What are your thoughts about the future of Social Security? Should it be saved? Should future participants be allowed to invest SSN payments into the equities markets? Should the age to receive benefits be raised? Explain your answers.
6. Many organizations award sick time and vacation based upon seniority with the company. Would you support these allocations of time off based on performance rather than time served with the organization? Explain and support your answer.
7. Based upon your research what are your thoughts about how employee benefits, vacation, sick leave, and other compensation & benefits might differ around the world? What is the basis for your answers?
8. Assume your organization is expanding and wants to open a sales office overseas. What factors would affect compensation & benefits. What issues might be of specific concern?