Assignment task: As a recent college graduate, you are excited to start the search for your first career position. You have already started interviewing for opportunities as a management trainee. You have been fortunate to have two interviews so far, and you identified several other companies to apply to at a recent job fair. From what you have learned, the starting salary for a job as a management trainee in your area seems about the same at all companies. Therefore, you know that wage isn't going to differentiate one job offer from another. It will be important to understand the work environment and future career opportunities at a given company as you compare offers. As you think back to some of the career-search seminars you've attended, you remember that you should also compare benefit offerings.
As you look through the Web sites of the companies you have applied to, you quickly see that there are lots of different benefits plans offered. As you look at this information, you become concerned that comparing benefits will be challenging. You think that you need to better understand the value of different benefits when you consider the total compensation you would receive from a company. You decide to start by looking more closely at the benefits offered by your current best prospect, a position at a large, established corporation where you interviewed last week. You pull up the careers page on the company Web site and find a chart that lists the benefits offered.
- Old age, survivor, and disability insurance
- Medicare
- Unemployment insurance
- Workers' compensation
- Family and medical leave
- Health care
- Dental Insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Tuition reimbursement
- Defined contribution retirement plan
- Vacation days
- Holidays
- Sick days
As you review the chart, you aren't sure what you should pay attention to and what will make a difference in evaluating an offer. You think about lists you've read on other company's Web sites and believe that other companies seem to offer benefits plans very similar to this one. At this point, you think that maybe benefit offerings don't make a difference. You decide to learn more before going further in the page 28 interview process. If the benefits information provided to you is unclear, you know you should be prepared to ask questions. The future is exciting, but once you receive an offer, it is an important decision you should make with full information.
1.) If two companies list the same benefits offerings, should you assume that the value of the benefits is the same?
2.) What are some benefits this company offers that you should find more information about to fully understand a job offer from the company? Why?
3.) Why don't all companies just offer the same benefits?