October 25, 2024 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Knowing Your Total Reward
October 25, 2024 at 10:53 am
What agreat article and topic. I read and digested everything you wrote , and I have a few take aways , but more of a story. Some of it seems sad to me because so many of us have worked hard our entire lives , and only restricted by a companies culture or policies. I gave worked in the data industry for over 27 years, and Just recently I found something that would make all the sacrifices we make worth while. I found my purpose , and in my purpose none of this matters .. vacation tine ... health benefits . Tine off . These are things we worry about that never drive or deliver purpose . Once you find your purpose every job you have, every obstacle you face, merely becomes a step in the direction you are headed . Most people want three things in life . Financial freedom, serve importantly and to ultimately feel like they are making progress. When we have these things in our lives we have happiness. Hapinees really is achieved when you have found your purpose . Thanks for writing this article, and I wish everyone a day filled with progress.
October 25, 2024 at 2:14 pm
My own experience fits your story pretty well. Early in my career the job changes, whether within the company or from one company to another, were all about increased compensation. As revenue increased and family size increased, other considerations became more important. Increased time off and reducing the commute became important. For a while I was looking for a non-profit to work for because I wanted to make the world a better place, but I was never able to find one that fit my job skills and desired work. I've also realized I don't want to work for a large, soulless company anymore. I left my last employer because they were large and soulless, and were pushing the identity politics crap. The employer I'm at now is a good fit for me, though not perfect. There are many things I like about it, and the good pay is only a smaller part of it. I am hoping it'll break my streak of 3 - 4 years at a place before deciding to move on.
Be still, and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10
October 25, 2024 at 4:46 pm
My employment record is a bit of an outlier in that I have close to 30 years in IT at the same employer. Part of that longevity can be attributed to my having always valued my total compensation over just my salary. For their part, the company I've worked for has pushed (and published) the value of the benefits they provide employees. Exactly which parts of my total compensation that matter most to me has changed over time, but I've always valued the non-salaried parts. As I reach the home stretch of my career things like my traditional pension, allotted vacation time, very flexible work schedule, and company stability matter much more to me than paycheck growth. All part of getting older I guess.
October 25, 2024 at 5:57 pm
What agreat article and topic. I read and digested everything you wrote , and I have a few take aways , but more of a story. Some of it seems sad to me because so many of us have worked hard our entire lives , and only restricted by a companies culture or policies. I gave worked in the data industry for over 27 years, and Just recently I found something that would make all the sacrifices we make worth while. I found my purpose , and in my purpose none of this matters .. vacation tine ... health benefits . Tine off . These are things we worry about that never drive or deliver purpose . Once you find your purpose every job you have, every obstacle you face, merely becomes a step in the direction you are headed . Most people want three things in life . Financial freedom, serve importantly and to ultimately feel like they are making progress. When we have these things in our lives we have happiness. Hapinees really is achieved when you have found your purpose . Thanks for writing this article, and I wish everyone a day filled with progress.
Thanks, and glad you enjoyed it. This was something I've thought about a lot since reading Drive: https://amzn.to/48jyLIB
October 25, 2024 at 5:58 pm
My employment record is a bit of an outlier in that I have close to 30 years in IT at the same employer. Part of that longevity can be attributed to my having always valued my total compensation over just my salary. For their part, the company I've worked for has pushed (and published) the value of the benefits they provide employees. Exactly which parts of my total compensation that matter most to me has changed over time, but I've always valued the non-salaried parts. As I reach the home stretch of my career things like my traditional pension, allotted vacation time, very flexible work schedule, and company stability matter much more to me than paycheck growth. All part of getting older I guess.
30 years is impressive and glad you've had a good career. I wish that on more people
October 29, 2024 at 2:24 pm
I had 25+ years in at my prior IT employer. The pay was good and good benefits. The main motivating factor to stay was that my wife worked at the same company for most of that time. We decided early on to go to one car, that saved us a lot over the years.
Where I work now I have good pay and good benefits, PTO, and working from home full time. I make the occasional visit to the office but that's only for special events. I hope this is my last IT job, but if it isn't the work from home would be my major factor for considering a new job. Not having to deal with the stress of the commute and dealing with some loud co-workers is huge for me. I think I would do the same thing you did Steve if I had to get a new IT job, in that I would ask for less pay to be able to work from home.
We bought a new car right before the covid shut down. I bet we have less than 30,000 miles on it today. We would have almost put that much on it in one year prior to covid. That has saved a ton of money on gas and maintenance. And that is another reason I like working from home to this day.
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we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
Don't fear failure, fear regret.
October 30, 2024 at 12:27 am
Hey @below86, I completely agree with you when it comes to working from home. Last year I was one of thousands of people who forced to return to the office, with no reason given. After serval months went by, I realized that upper management, not given a reason why they wanted people back in the office full timed, makes it so they don't have to defend themselves. They don't have to justify anything. They don't have to be transparent.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
December 10, 2024 at 5:57 pm
I'm with Andy about creating a spreadsheet to calculate the total reward of an offer. As you say, health insurance in the US is a significant factor, but most people don't get the details.
Which insurance company (and what is their denial rate for claims)? What is your annual cost for the insurance? What is the annual deductible and maximum out-of-pocket? What percentage do they cover after the deductible? If they restrict payment based on whether your provider is in-network, are your preferred doctors/hospitals in their network? What are the co-pays for various types of providers? It is complicated, and the answer to every one of those questions can make a significant difference in the true cost of that insurance and therefore, your total compensation. What about dental coverage? Short and long-term disability insurance? 401(k) matching or pension specifics? Getting that information before accepting an offer can be challenging sometimes, with HR treating it as practically a trade secret. If they are hiding it, that's a big red flag.
I also agree about the value of the non-monetary aspects of a job offer that matter to you. For example, tuition reimbursement only has value if you will use it. Paid time off is worth more than just the money, it's also a mental health issue. Details matter here too: can you accrue more than one year's worth? (Say you get 3 weeks per year and want to take 4 contiguous weeks off to travel - do you need to "save up time" across two years or is it simply impossible?) If you use all your vacation time for the year and get the flu in December, do you have to take unpaid days off?
I've worked from home on and off at various jobs over my 30+ year career, and consistently since mid-2019. At first, the many benefits of no commute and control over my work environment (sound and lighting, especially) were the big draws. But given the COVID situation, I would never consider a job that was not 100% remote. Literally, every person I know who doesn't work 100% from home has had COVID-19 at least once, some as many as three times. Given the cumulative cognitive function problems it can cause, you could become unable to perform your job adequately for months or years or ever again.
December 12, 2024 at 5:31 pm
Hey @below86, I completely agree with you when it comes to working from home. Last year I was one of thousands of people who forced to return to the office, with no reason given. After serval months went by, I realized that upper management, not given a reason why they wanted people back in the office full timed, makes it so they don't have to defend themselves. They don't have to justify anything. They don't have to be transparent.
They don't and they don't have to follow the same rules for themselves, apparently. We had a new CIO start earlier this year and in a meeting with all of IT this person mentioned that having everyone in the office was what this person preferred. Better collaboration and team work, you know the BS. 😉
So this got all of us working from home a bit nervous that we would be required to come in. I talked with the VP of IT and was assured nothing was going to change, and so far it hasn't.
But the hypocrisy of the whole thing is this person lives about 4 states away from the office. The person mentioned that they would not be moving to our area. So this person is NOT in the office on a daily basis, and works remotely most of the time.
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we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
Don't fear failure, fear regret.
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