After receiving a positive
response from StopNShopToday, Inc. management about the recommendations for the
incentives and performance appraisal projects, the HR generalist has been
assigned a project that will prove to be very challenging: assessing the competitiveness
of the company benefits package.
The owners of StopNShopToday,
Inc. are very concerned about the escalation of health insurance costs. When
they started the business in 1991, benefit costs were much less and employees
were happier with what the company provided. Now, however, the owners regularly
hear employee complaints about the growing health insurance premiums they pay.
In addition, the owners are
tired of employees always requesting that they be allowed to take a greater
number of paid personal absence days. Scheduling employee vacations and
holidays is difficult because the company’s store locations are open all
day and every day, except for Christmas and New Year’s day. As a result,
the owners want to compare StopNShopToday, Inc.’s benefits package with other
similar companies. They intend to use these facts to make better decisions and
communicate their problems more accurately to employees.
As the HR generalist, you
quickly realize that the corporation had never quantified the total costs of
benefits. After 1 month of exhaustive review of benefits bills and payroll
records, you have summarized the corporate compensation and benefits costs as
seen in the following:
Percent of Total Compensation:
·
Total wages and salaries: 50%
·
Total benefits costs: 25%
·
Paid leave: 5%
·
Supplemental leave: 2%
·
Insurance: 6%
·
Retirement and savings: 2%
·
Legally required benefits: 10%
·
Other benefits: 0%
With this information, you
will now attempt an external benefits comparison. To get benefits data from
other companies, review the following data from the U.S. Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Some of the most pertinent survey results are in
Appendix A.
Clickhereto view the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of
Labor Statistics 2005 data.
Clickhereto view the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of
Labor Statistics 1986–2001 data.
Prepare a comparison of the
compensation and benefits costs that you will deliver to the company’s owners.
Create at least 1 chart to visually depict the most relevant data. Address
the issues of greatest concern to the owners. Provide several paragraphs to
summarize your findings. Use Appendix A or additional data provided in the U.S.
Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics documents.
