Compensation and Benefits

Article Review

Lindsey Lopez

Compensation and Benefits

Ottawa University

Article Review

        The article titled “Better Pay and Benefits Loom Large in Job Satisfaction” was written by Stephen Miller of the Society for Human Resource Management. The content of this article discusses how in today’s world, employees are focused now more than ever, on earning higher competitive wages, as well as benefits from their employer.

Better Pay and Better Benefits

        People today looking for jobs are more focused on securing a job with higher, competitive wages and low costing benefits, such as health insurance. People are actually overlooking jobs with opportunities for growth and promotion, in order to find on with higher pay and decent benefits that will not break the bank.

        The reason for the high demand of higher wages has nothing to do with greed. In fact, there are several different reasons for each generation. Older generations that have years of work experience are now focused on earning higher wages because they have dealt with no raises and a stagnant wage growth over the years, dating back to the 2008 recession. Younger generations, such as those newly graduated from college, may not have dealt with the stagnant wage growth, however they have just as daunting of a reason to want to earn as much as they can. Their reason being student loans. Today, almost all college graduated are leaving college with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. They know that they are going to soon have to start repaying those loans, and need decent income to do so on top of paying for the cost of living. The ever increasing costs of healthcare also play a factor. In recent years, the cost of healthcare has become so high, that an employee with a family may end up paying premiums of up to $1,000 per month.

Perspective

        After reading this article, I believe that I am one of those who fall into this category of seeking a job or career with higher wages and also low cost benefits. I have been with my current job for almost five years while working toward my degree. The pay is mediocre, however the health insurance costs are very low. As are the dental and vision insurance costs. I pay very little premiums for very decent coverage. My job also provides us with a Health Savings account. With the lost costs of insurance and the HSA, I pay next to nothing for out of pocket healthcare costs throughout the year. When I graduate and pursue another job, I know that I will be searching for a job not only with decent pay, but also cheap benefits. I am so used to paying next to nothing for healthcare that it is going to be difficult for me to be willing to pay anymore.