Benefits

• 12/01/07

How Important Are Benefits?

Compensation is about more than dollars and cents: Benefits such as vacation time, healthcare, retirement plans, and training all come into play in one's total compensation package. It's no surprise, then, that benefits are highly valued by all, with 85 percent of our respondents indicating that benefits are "very" or "extremely important." When we break down the results by gender, we learn that benefits are more important to women than to men, with 43 percent of female respondents rating benefits as "extremely important," versus 27 percent of males deeming them so. One possible reason for the difference: healthcare. According to the US Department of Labor, females of all ages accounted for 60 percent of all expenses incurred at doctors' offices in 2004. And not only do women utilize more healthcare than men, but they also make approximately 80 percent of healthcare decisions for their families.

Value of Benefits by Age Range

"A year older, a year wiser" may ring true in most cases, but the value placed on benefits by individuals ages 0 to 100 is fairly consistent across the board. The importance of benefits does dip slightly, however, for respondents ages 65 or over.

Value of Benefits by Population Density

Again, benefits clearly are important to all respondents, whether they dwell in cities or live in rural communities. Interestingly, though, we can observe a slight increase in "extremely important" responses as we move from rural to urban areas. And the value of benefits spikes slightly with suburbanites, 89 percent of whom reported that benefits are very or extremely important in terms of total compensation— possibly because as a group, suburbanites are heavily invested in raising families and financing houses and cars.

Weeks of Paid Vacation

Doubtless paid vacation time varies with seniority and position, but here we provide an overview of the number of weeks enjoyed by respondents across the board. Four weeks is by far the most common length of paid vacation time, with an impressive 20 percent of respondents reporting five weeks or more. At 1 percent, a few unlucky respondents reported less than 1 week of vacation time per year. We hope they use those days wisely!

Range of Available Benefits

This chart breaks down the specific benefits offered by respondents' institutions, from health insurance and retirement plans to cell phone allowances. What's notable here is the number of opportunities for professional development: 65 percent of respondents receive education reimbursement; 76 percent get paid conference attendance; 61 percent are offered training reimbursement; and 12 percent receive certification reimbursement. Also interesting is the low percentage of schools offering performance-based bonuses (a trend that may be on the rise), and the 29 percent of respondents who receive an allowance for their phone or cell phone.

Which Benefits Are Most Important?

Healthcare, retirement, and vacation time rank high on this chart, and fortunately they also are the most commonly provided benefits (as we know from the data on the previous page). Considering that our respondents were only allowed to choose two "most important" benefits, we are impressed by several of the items that managed to wrangle some votes here. The fact that 14 percent of our respondents selected education reimbursement, 6 percent chose paid conference attendance, and 7 percent selected training as important benefits speaks to just how vital it is for our tech-focused readers to stay ahead of the professional development curve. Also of interest are benefits that received very low scores in importance, yet are frequently offered by higher ed institutions; for instance, only 1 percent of respondents selected phone/cell phone allowance as a most important benefit, whereas 29 percent of institutions offer that benefit to our respondents.