Employee Benefits And Especially Business Essays

Some of these benefits are: housing (employer-provided or employer-paid), group insurance (health, dental, life etc.), disability income protection, retirement benefits, daycare, tuition reimbursement, sick leave, vacation (paid and non-paid), social security, profit sharing, funding of education, and other specialized benefits.

The purpose of the benefits is to increase the economic security of employees.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_benefit

Direct compensation is remuneration provided to employees in exchange for their labor and services. What makes it direct is that it is given to the employee without an intermediary. Indirect compensation is for the employee’s benefit, but is not given directly to the employee.

Wages and Salary

Direct compensation includes salary and wages paid. This includes contractual pay, overtime, payment for unscheduled time, workers’ compensation payments and any retroactive pay.

Holidays and Leave

Payment for holidays and leave is also included in direct compensation. Leave includes sick time, funeral leave, maternity leave, military duty or other paid time away from work.

Bonuses

All forms of bonuses are included in direct compensation. These include bonuses for performance, longevity, signing and others.

Other Allowances

Other paid or reimbursed allowances are included in direct compensation, including ravel (including meals) and some medical care when it is paid by the employee and reimbursed.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5863432_included-direct-compensation_.html#ixzz1JnfP3LWN

INTRODUCTION

I would disagree, as direct compensation may not encourage loyalty in the same way added benefits do.

All Jobs pay a salary, and most are competitive in the market, a job will usually paid around the same wherever you are, however its often the perks that retain staff. Added benefits are also often something to work towards, for example, a company car is available in our organisation once you reach a certain level. Whether or not you wish to accept, its nice to see that a brand new BMW could be yours with a bit of work (plus a bigger tax deduction)

http://www.accountancystudents.co.uk/discussion/viewthread/17226/

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.

direct and indirect compensation

Direct compensation is a payment the plan (including ERISA recapture account or forfeiture account) makes to a service provider for services rendered to the plan, or because of a person’s position with the plan. The term also includes an expense the employer pays but the plan reimburses.

The short answer is that indirect compensation is any payment a service provider receives from sources other than direct compensation from the plan or from the plan sponsor, if the compensation was received in connection with services rendered to the plan or the person’s position with the plan. It does not include compensation that would have been received if the provider had not rendered services or the transactions had not taken place, or that cannot be reasonably allocated to transactions or services involving the plan.

The simplest example of indirect compensation would be a situation where Plan X pays Fred $10,000 for recordkeeping and consulting, and Fred pays Ilene $7,500 to do the recordkeeping. The $10,000 payment to Fred is direct compensation. The $7,500 payment to Ilene is indirect compensation. Unless an exception applies, Schedule C reports both payments ($17,500).

Frequently, however, indirect compensation takes a different route. Suppose Plan X invests $5,000,000 in Mutual Fund M. M charges an expense load of 0.40%, or $20,000. M engages Investment Manager I to perform investment advisory services for the fund. M determines that Plan X’s share of I’s compensation is $6,000. While X does not report the $20,000 expense load, it does report the $6,000 indirect compensation paid to I.

http://www.sungard.com/en/sitecore/content/campaigns/fs/wealthmanagement/cfow/resources/techupdates/articlec/part3_direct_indirectcompensation.aspx

Compensation includes topics in regard to wage and/or salary programs and structures, for example, salary ranges for job descriptions, merit-based programs, bonus-based programs, commission-based programs, etc

Compensation is payment to an employee in return for their contribution to the organization, that is, for doing their job. The most common forms of compensation are wages, salaries and tips.

Compensation is usually provided as base pay and/or variable pay. Base pay is based on the role in the organization and the market for the expertise required to conduct that role. Variable pay is based on the performance of the person in that role, for example, for how well that person achieved his or her goals for the year. Incentive plans, for example, bonus plans, are a form of variable pay.

ADVANTAGES  OF  BENEFITS

Companies provide their employees and workers with a variety of benefits. These benefits are basically forms of value or services that are provided by an employer to his employees for their contribution in the performance of the organisation . Such benefits are an important component of a company’s remuneration package for attracting and retaining its employees. The benefits serve as incentives to the employees and encourage them to work harder for the organisation. These also help in building up employee job satisfaction

Employee benefits are an important part of any company’s offering to their prospective or existing staff. There can be numerous advantages to establishing an employee benefits scheme, not only for the employee, who can receive useful non-cash benefits in addition to, or in place of, part of their salary, but also for employers, who can bulk out their salary offering with additional benefits to their staff.

Employer Advantages

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One of the major advantages for employers is an easing of their own cashflow. This is particularly the case if you introduce a salary sacrifice system, whereby employees give up a portion of their salary in return for other benefits. It may be possible to negotiate discounts with benefit providers if your workforce is large, and the provision of non-cash benefits can therefore be cheaper than the providing the part of the salary that the employee is sacrificing. Furthermore, there are potential tax advantages, although these are limited and potentially complex. More information on the tax implications of a benefits scheme are available elsewhere on this site.

Employee Advantages

Some of the advantages of accepting a benefits scheme for an employee are obvious. In the first instance, if the benefits are attractive then you will have access to useful offerings such as a pension scheme or company car, without having to make these arrangements yourself. This is of particular use for utilities such as mobile phones, which can be provided as a non-cash benefit by an employer. Furthermore, if some of the activities or utilities that you would be paying for anyway are available as benefits, you will have a clearer idea of your cashflow situation and will not have to set money aside for these things.

Finally, tax advantages are extended to employees as well as employers. Through cooperation with your employer, you should be able to negotiate a benefits package that provides a tax advantage; for example, if your employer pays for your mobile phone, this is treated as a non-taxable benefit. Sundries such as this can represent a significant tax saving over the course of a year.

As an employee, it is important to remember that you may be pressured into accepting a salary sacrifice arrangement. You should only agree to this if the benefits being offered are useful, and you are happy with the price at which they are being offered (that is, the portion of your salary that you are giving up in return for the benefits).

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Human-Resources-2866/2011/3/Direct-Indirect-compensation.htm

organisational examples of employee benefits:

Paid time off

Vacation time

Sick paid leave

Holidays

Birthday holiday

Personal day

Jury duty

Military service

Insurance

Health

Dental

Disability

Life

Tuition reimbursement

Tuition reimbursement for children

Matching retirement contributions

Discounts on area attractions

Employee assistance programs

Health and wellness programs

Discounts to workout facilities

Discounts on business products and services

Flexible work schedules

On-site day care

Bring your pet to work

Dry cleaning services

http://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/articles/employee-benefits-overview/

employees benefits in mcdonalds

McDonald’s gives its 85,000 UK staff an employee discount card as soon as they begin work with the chain.

The card offers staff five standard discounts, including a medium extra value meal for £2.99, a breakfast extra value meal for £1.99, or a toasted deli sandwich meal for £2.99. There is a limit of two purchases per visit. Staff are also offered free meals while they are working.

Neal Blackshire, benefits and compensation manager at McDonald’s, says: “When we put it in place many years ago, it was done to try to formalise something that had happened in a number of restaurants informally. It was not intended to drive motivation, it was the right thing to do in our relationship with our staff.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=12581&d=23&h=0&f=0″

employees benefits in ASDA

Asda offers its staff a 10% discount card after three months service. The card can be used in any Asda store in the UK and in any global Walmart, Asda’s parent company. Using the card, Asda’s 175,000 staff save over £60 million a year.

When Asda launched an online voluntary benefits scheme in 2010, it also included discounts on its own services, such as insurance, access to opticians, flower delivery and car breakdown cover.

Angela Woodward, reward manager at Asda, says: “By offering staff discounts throughout the business, they become engaged and can also provide insight into the company brand.”

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12583/23/320/3

employees benefits in BGL Group rather than compensation

Insurance broker the BGL Group has added a financial education programme to the range of benefits it offers its 2,100 employees.

Lucy Painter, associate director for shared services group HR at the company, says: “We already run pension seminars and one-to-one sessions with our pensions consultant, AWD Chase de Vere, as well as giving employees access to financial help on our employee assistance programme (EAP).

“These are very well received and we get lots of requests for more financial education, so we decided to broaden out the programme.”

After researching the market, Painter decided to use the Money Advice Service to provide a financial education programme.

“We really like the material,” says Painter. “It covers a broad range of topics and it makes finance fun and simple, which aligns well with our culture.”

A series of Money Matters workshops, which include budgeting, borrowing, insurance and savings and investment, were launched in March, with staff given time off work to attend.

“We are monitoring feedback from the workshops to help us decide what to offer next,” says Painter. “We want our employees to benefit from the information they receive, using tips from the workshops to help them make the most of their money.”

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12554/23/305/3

employees benefits in Barbon

In 2010, Barbon initiated a big engagement push to increase participation rates in benefits, which included a’pension wheel’ desk drop, a concertina leaflet for pensions and a new benefits booklet. The HR team also arranged for representatives from the Financial Services Authority’s free Moneymadeclear service to give presentations to staff at several company locations.

As a result, pension participation increased by 31% in a year, with health cash plan utilisation up 45%. Absence rates have also fallen from between 5% and 6% across various company locations to about 3%. In January, Barbon was accredited with one-to-watch status in the Sunday Times’ 100 Best companies to work for.

Richard Walden, HR director at Barbon (pictured), explains: “We think that everything is about employee engagement. It means better results for the company and, ultimately, better returns for shareholders.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12569/23/305/3

employees benefits in BT rather than compensation

BT offers a voluntary programme of financial education for employees aged over 50 to help them begin planning for retirement. This includes seminars, offered in conjunction with provider Wealth at Work, as well as BT’s own online pensions modelling tool.

These tools help staff to make lifestyle choices while being fully aware of the possible financial consequences. “The tools give staff personal choices in terms of when do they want to stop amassing a bigger pension, in favour of stopping work sooner. The [tolls] are there to get staff thinking about what they are aiming for. They may have a bereavement to contend with, or care or health issues.”

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12576/23/305/3

employees benefits in City and Guilds

City and Guilds started working with Thomsons on its flexible benefits scheme in July 2010, when the provider offered the opportunity to take up Asperity’s online retail and leisure discount portal.

Chris Coyne, group head of reward at City and Guilds, says: “When we came to the scheme design, we looked at whether this [online discount portal] was an appropriate thing for us to be offering. Was it going to be a helpful addition to our package?

“The advantage of the portal is that at a time when employers are struggling to do anything particularly exciting with salary reviews, this is a way of delivering immediate savings to employees in hard times.”

City and Guilds launched Asperity’s scheme to its 900 UK employees in November 2010, and has found that working through one contact point has saved it time and resources in terms of checking the reputation of a provider and sourcing references from other employers.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12577/23/305/3

benefits given by DDL to its employee rather than compensation

When David Lloyd Leisure (DLL) introduced a flexible benefits plan in June 2010, it incorporated its existing voluntary benefits scheme into the new offering.

The flex scheme includes a health cash plan, bikes for work, childcare vouchers, critical illness insurance, private medical insurance, a discount scheme, salary sacrifice company cars, holiday buying and a group personal pension plan.

The scheme, which is provided by Lorica Consulting, caters for all of the leisure club’s 6,000 employees, including receptionists, catering, gym and head office staff. It also aimed to harmonise benefits after DLL changed ownership several times in recent years.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12578/23/305/3

severn trent water employees benefits

Severn Trent Water introduced its SmartWater benefit in January 2010, which enables employees to pay their water bill through a salary sacrifice arrangement.

Chris Blakesley, pay and benefits manager at Severn Trent Water, says: “It has certainly enhanced employee engagement.

“Feedback has been extremely positive as we have often been challenged with regard to what benefits employees could get in relation to the services provided by the organisation. Free water is not a possibility in the

regulated environment we operate in, but SmartWater is probably the next best thing.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12582/23/305/3

employee benefits in Towry

Wealth management firm Towry uses a traditional incentive mechanic, a pre-paid MasterCard (Spree card), to deliver flexible benefits for its staff.

Employees have the option to load funds onto the Spree card, which is provided by P&MM Motivation, and can get 5-15% savings at selected retailers. Towry also uses the card to pay staff any amount that remains in their flexible benefits fund. To date, 35% of its employees have opted for their benefits to be loaded via the Spree-flex card.

Adrian Duncan, business development director at P&MM Motivation, says other employers have taken this one step further and also pay incentive and recognition payments onto the card.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/11343/23/316/3

employee benefits in ukrd group

UKRD Group, Luminus and Kenneth Green Associates are among The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work for in the UK 2011.

The list compiles the best organisations based on a number of factors including: leadership, my manager, my company, my team, giving something back, wellbeing, fair deal, and personal growth.

Ranked first, commercial radio broadcaster UKRD Group has introduced a share scheme for staff and increased its training and development budget during the recession. Last year the organisation spent £64,000 on events for staff such as days out sailing, theatre trips, parties and clay pigeon shooting.

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12443/pg_dtl_art_news/300/pg_ftr_art

Employee benefits in Northumbrian Water

Northumbrian Water offers a range of tax-efficient benefits that help its 3,000 employees to make savings.

The water and waste supplier has offered childcare vouchers, bikes for work and holiday buying via salary sacrifice since 2006. In 2008, it brought in a scheme whereby staff can pay their water bills via salary sacrifice, and introduced company car salary sacrifice in October 2009. It also offers a taxefficient share-incentive plan (Sip) allowing staff to contribute from gross salary.

Michelle Legg, compensation and benefits manager, says: “Salary sacrifice has been a part of employees’ language for some time now. When we do our employee survey, we ask what they would like to see in their benefits package, which is how [the] water and the car scheme came about.”

http://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/item/12427/pg_dtl_art_news/300/pg_ftr_art