When you’re on the job market and searching for something to do on a daily basis, there are many important factors you need to weigh. The salary is obviously the most important thing because that’s what pays the bills, but if you’re putting in long, difficult days at the office five days a week, you’re entitled to more than just money. You’re entitled to employee benefits too – additional measures of compensation that make sure your well-being is attended to.
So, what are those employee benefits that you should be looking for? Here are four types of benefits that we at Charles Foster believe you should always weigh before taking a new job.
Healthcare Benefits
The most important benefit a potential employer can offer is healthcare. This ensures that you don’t have to pay tens of thousands of dollars of your own money for necessary health procedures when unfortunate circumstances strike. Being hospitalized due to a serious disease or a car accident is a fate that’s cruel enough; in such a scenario, having proper healthcare can mitigate the insult of the hospital bills to the injury (or sickness) that brought you there in the first place. Always be sure to ask about healthcare benefits before you accept a job to make sure that you’ve got at least some sort of financial safety net beneath you.
Paid time off
The natural reward for working hard? Being paid to recharge your batteries in the form of a vacation. The more paid vacation time a company offers, the better, although of course there are limits to this. Nobody can realistically expect to get four months of paid vacation per year. The same principle goes for sick time; if you’re sick or injured in a fashion that prevents you from working, or if you have a doctor’s appointment (which is designed to keep you from getting sick), you can take a paid sick day to ensure you don’t lose money for taking care of yourself. The more sick time you’re offered, the better. Finally, there are personal days, which can typically be used more flexibly. Sometimes, you’ll just need to take care of something that doesn’t fall under the vacation or sick label, but just because it doesn’t fall under either of those labels doesn’t mean it’s not important. As is the case with healthcare, be sure to ask about a company’s paid time off policy before accepting the job.
Incentives
Although not necessarily a dealbreaker, incentives at a company could serve as a tiebreaker if you’re down to two job offers that feel fairly similar. Many companies offer annual holiday bonuses, but what could really make one employer stand out is if they offer additional paid
time off or monetary bonuses for meeting metrics, or just generally doing your job extremely well. Just make sure that the job doesn’t pay strictly on commission; you’ll need a base salary that meets your needs first and foremost. Incentives are simply the cherries on the top of the cake; you still need the cake and frosting first!
Are you looking for that perfect job that will take you to the next step in your professional career? Charles Foster is here to help with that! Browse through our job openings today.