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Job compensation question...What's more important to you?

Scarpozzi

Scarpozzi

Lifer
I'm just curious how you all would rank these as important.

1. Money (Making a living wage + enough cushion to live the lifestyle you've grown accustomed to)
2. Job Security (knowing you won't get canned unless EVERYBODY does)
3. Paid Leave (vacation/sick/holiday time that you can actually use/take)
4. Benefits (insurance and other perks)

Rank order them with a percentage.

For me, it's like:

3. Paid Leave - 40%
1. Money - 30%
4. Benefits - 15%
2. Job security - 15%

I'm a work to live kind of guy. I work hard, but don't consider my job to be who I am or rule my life. It does command 40 hours a week (or less)... I just think that time off is more important than being in the office all the time.
 
1. Money - 70%
3. Paid leave - 29%
4. Benefits - 1%
2. Job security - 0%

KT
 
For me job security is very important simply because health insurance is still tied to employment. Change that setup and job security would drop to the bottom of the list. Leave is important. Money is nice but I have modest tastes so lower pay in trade for more leave and better benefits works for me.
 
IronWing said:
For me job security is very important simply because health insurance is still tied to employment. Change that setup and job security would drop to the bottom of the list. Leave is important. Money is nice but I have modest tastes so lower pay in trade for more leave and better benefits.
Click to expand...
Living within your means makes all the difference. I know a lot of people who got promoted and instantly bought a new house/new car before knowing whether or not the company or the job market could sustain their salary. 1.5-2 years later, they changed jobs and took a pay cut.

DAGTA, that's a great goal to have. Daycare and house construction costs are eating me alive right now, but 90% of my debt is on 10 year or less payback at sub 2.5% and 1.5%. It actually makes more sense for me to invest in the market than it does pay my debt off faster.
 
Scarpozzi said:
Living within your means makes all the difference. I know a lot of people who got promoted and instantly bought a new house/new car before knowing whether or not the company or the job market could sustain their salary. 1.5-2 years later, they changed jobs and took a pay cut.

DAGTA, that's a great goal to have. Daycare and house construction costs are eating me alive right now, but 90% of my debt is on 10 year or less payback at sub 2.5% and 1.5%. It actually makes more sense for me to invest in the market than it does pay my debt off faster.
Click to expand...

Construction costs on that low of rate/s or other debt?
 
1. Money 60%
2. Job Security 30%
3. Paid Leave 1%
4. Benefits 9%

I live in Canada, so healthcare is not an issue. I am also rolling pension into money, and not benefits because it is money. Job security is important for me because of what I do - there are not a lot of positions like mine in my area that I'm aware of. Time off is great, but in my field they'll always be competitive and offer enough (e.g. I get 22 days paid off a year, plus the days between Christmas and New Years, plus any stat holidays.)

Missing from your list is work environment though. I value a good working environment quite highly.
 
1. Money - 100%
2. Paid Leave - 0%
3. Benefits - 0%
4. Job security -0%


I'm self employed. I do 1099. I have at least 2-3 companies that compensate me this way. I do side work here and there. In that sense I make sig higher then most other people. Those companies don't provide me any of those benefits as I purchase them myself. In general my income is so high that the extra cost for those benefits are a drop in the bucket.

In this way I will have my primary home paid off in a 5 years or so (along with my rental property). By the time I'm in my 40s I won't have any mortgages etc... Also my kids will be well through college and I won't have any issue paying for that either.

I can then sit back and get some do-nothing gov job until I die.
 
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It used to always be money for me.

now.....
paid leave/benefits 85%
job security 14%
money 1%

I work 06:45ish to 15:00. Leave to get my kid at school. I have only 15 PTO days, but my boss fails to remember that we need to track everything, so I have taken about 24 days so far this year and he doesn't care/remember.
I can work from home when necessary (typically once a week).
I make a profit for carrying medical insurance. It's not much, but I am being paid around $20 per month to carry medical.

My salary is pure crap. About half what I was making 6 years ago, however I have little to no stress, have good medical coverage and feel pretty damn secure in my job.
 
Money
Time

I want to make the most money with the least amount of time invested. I don't mind 9-5 at all, but do not want on call, after hours, weekends etc.

There are plenty of IT jobs, security doesn't matter to me. Don't care about benefits much either at this point in my life.
 
Job Enjoyment
Money
Time off


I don't care about job security. My job security is I have a set of skills that companies want. Benefits aren't a huge thing for me either, as the other stuff is much more important.
 
Capt Caveman said:
Commute 25%
The Job 25%
Money 20%
Benefits 15%
Paid Leavec10%
Job Security 5%
Click to expand...

I think something along these lines is more important. If a company would pay you a crap ton of money to do something unbearable 40+ hours a week, that will affect things, too.

Using the guideline above mine would probably be:

The Job 20%
Money 20%
Benefits 15%
Paid Leave 5%
Job Security 15%

The one thing to note about benefits is 401k (if that's included in that section, which I think it should be). Company A matching only say 2%, vs company B who may pay you $10k less per year but matches double or triple that 2%, is really better for you in the long run. After working for 40+ yrs, those small %'s will compound, and what seemed like only a few thousand dollars per year, actually helped you create hundreds of thousands, vs just the straight salary difference every year between company A and B.

I ranked paid leave pretty low. I barely go on vacation because I can never usually afford it. I don't see myself ever really affording it either as I have a lot of student debt, and my g/f (hopefully future wife) has even more. Seeing as she'll be paying $1000+ a month for the next 10-15yrs, kid's cost will end up replacing my student loan payment and some. As long as I can get 5-10 days off a year, I'm fine w that. I'd trade a few days off a year for a more lax work place where I don't fear being laid off all the time.
 
One thing that is missing here is job stress level. I'd rather be paid slightly less and have a significantly less stressful job...however money is still an important factor.
 
Security - 60%
Money - 40%
Benefits - 0%
Paid Leave - 0%

That's why I love my current job. Running my own business means that my job is as secure as I can make it. I put money below security because if I take too much it affects my job security by affecting the ability of the business to operate. Benefits I consider alongside money because it's all coming out of my pocket anyway. Paid leave is out of the question because if I'm not working I'm not making money practically by definition.
 
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I used to be all about the money and enjoyed killing myself at work to get the top bonus.

Now I want to coast and just get by as I've got my pot of FU money so I want to not get canned, make a good wage, take my 4-weeks of vacation a year, and have reasonably costing medical benefits.

Job Security 35%
Leave - 25%
Money - 25%
Benefits - 15%
 
Money - 90%
Paid Leave - 5%
Benefits - 5%
Job security - 0%

At the point I'm at in my life, my base salary is the most important to me. Even without significant paid leave (I get 2wk + 2wk holidays currently) I'm still very happy and I have no problems doing something just over a weekend (don't need extended trips). Benefits matter very little since I have no dependents and am very healthy. Job security I don't worry about - I'm always a top performer and have excellent networking skills so finding another job doesn't concern me.
 
z1ggy said:
The one thing to note about benefits is 401k (if that's included in that section, which I think it should be). Company A matching only say 2%, vs company B who may pay you $10k less per year but matches double or triple that 2%, is really better for you in the long run. After working for 40+ yrs, those small %'s will compound, and what seemed like only a few thousand dollars per year, actually helped you create hundreds of thousands, vs just the straight salary difference every year between company A and B.
Click to expand...

What?

I'll take the extra salary over the match all day any day - much rather have control over my own money rather than having to stick it in a plan to where I can not touch the funds until 59.5.

401K plans come with high fees, restricted investment choices - it's the nanny state people need in order to save - the rest of us would prefer to make our own decisions.
 
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