Evaluating the Total Compensation Package

All too often, an individual's employment search leads to acceptance of the highest salary offer without sufficiently considering the accompanying "benefits package." Medical insurance, life and long-term disability insurance, leave benefits, and retirement benefits are extremely important- and valuable-parts of the total compensation package. Research by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that employer costs for employee benefits as a percent of compensation have been rising and reached an average 33% in 1997. Although the precise value of a given benefits package varies from employer to employer, multiplying your annual, pre-tax salary by the percent value of your benefits package (your organization's human resources staff or the individual who makes hiring decisions should be able to give you that figure) will give you, in dollars and cents, the value of your benefits. Individuals without these benefits may suffer large income losses, or incur significant expenditures over the course of their lifetime.

In evaluating an employment offer, it is important to  consider each of the compensation package dimensions offered and its specific value to you. You need to actively compare what you are being offered with your needs and what you have with your current employer. Its also important to find out if a potential employer offers a "cafeteria plan" that allows employees to choose the benefits that are most important to them.