Benefits/Incentives Issues

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There are two key forms of compensation. The first is wage compensation and the other is non wage compensation. Non wage compensation are any benefit that employers give employees apart from their salaries or hourly wage. Non wage compensation is called benefits, fringe benefits, or perks. There are several advantages and disadvantages to the employer that offers benefits to his employees. There is a large variety of benefits that are offered by employers. Some of the benefits include group health insurance at low rates, life insurance, dental plans, prescription plans, vision plans, long term care insurance plans, and retirement plans. In addition, employers offer benefits such as paid holidays, paid sick days, and maternity leave. Firms also offer employees discounts at hotels, theme parks, and theaters. Other benefits include child care benefits, transportation, reallocation assistance, and legal assistance.
The key advantages that employers seek by offering these benefits are raising employee satisfaction, corporate loyalty, and worker retention. These benefits are perceived by employers as devices to attract and retain labor. From the perspective of employer he offers benefits to employees that are not taxed in the hands of the employee. These are excluded from the gross salaries of employees. However, some of these benefits are taxable for the employer(f). For example, if safety devices are required to protect himself from injuries, these benefits are not tax deductible for the employer. Further benefits that help provide health coverage for employees are not subject to federal income tax. From the perspective of the employer, providing benefits that are not included in the gross income of the employee helps build employee loyalty. Tax free employee benefits include health insurance up to a certain amount, health savings account, dependent care assistance, educational assistance, reimbursements for moving expenses, employee stock options, and group term life insurance below certain policy value. There are several types of benefits that are excluded from taxation. These include profit sharing plans, money purchase plans, stock bonus plans, and other qualified employee benefits plans. Offering employee discounts, supplemental unemployment benefits or commuting benefits are also excluded from employee's compensation. Similarly, cafeteria plans including low cost benefits are also excluded. From the perspective of employers providing non wage benefits help attract and retain better qualified employees. ...