http://merriehaskell.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] merriehaskell.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] porphyrin 2004-09-21 02:20 pm (UTC)

It's not bad. It's also not the best evah.

(We get $2 for every $1 up to 5% of our income in 401k (which means you can sock away the equivalent of 15% of your salary every year), which begins a month after you sign up; 15 sick days; at least 12 vacation days, if not 24 (depends on your job class and your seniority); and our choice of half a dozen HMO's or insurance deals, including BCBS; all kinds of dental and vision options; 5 times your salary in life insurance; full disability; tuition reimbursement of about $1200 a term.) So, that's University of Michigan, and as far as I know, doctors and regular library peons such as myself are extended the same benefits.

On the other hand, we are paid for shit.

Duke University has a very similar plan, according to my mother (who is on the nursing staff)--slightly less salary matching in the 401k, slightly more in the tuition plan (actually a lot more--they paid my mom $10k a year for me to go to college). They had better benefits 10 years ago (more sick/vacation days, and lately, sick/vacation have been combined into "personal time" but they are still pretty good).

Considering these are the two workplace benefits-systems I know... I don't know. It could be a luck of the draw sampling, and I just happened to be lucky. But I thought you should know that there are better options out there.

Of course, that isn't bad (it's about on par with what my brothers-in-law get with corporate America) and if you've been paying through the nose for insurance, or relying on student-level insurance, or just not having any... then yeah. What Bear said.

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