Abstract

There is a tremendous disconnect between the cost of compensation to employers and the value employees place on that compensation. Companies pay a lot more for workers than workers see in their paychecks. The average worker in the US costs his/her employee $29.52 per hour. But only $20.50 of that appeared in the worker's paycheck as wage and salary. The other $8.96 is attributable to other employer costs that employees do not immediately see. Of the $8.96, $2.04 is for paid leave, $0.71 is for supplemental pay, $2.60 is for insurance, $1.31 is for retirement savings, and $2.30 is for legally required benefits such as Medicare. Certainly some of this ends up going to the employee at some point, but this is not well understood by most workers.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2011

Publisher Statement

Contents © 2011. Reprinted with permission from WorldatWork. Content is licensed for use by purchaser only. No part of this article may be reproduced, excerpted or redistributed in any form without express written permission from WorldatWork.

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