If You Can’t Get a Big Raise, Here’s How to Get More From Benefits
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Here's your Money Briefing for Wednesday, October 16th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. Raises are expected to be flat next year and the cost of health benefits up. And that means workers hoping to get a pay bump at a new job or asking for a raise at their current one need to ask the right questions about their benefits package to get their numbers in order.
basic questions like what does the plan cover, what it doesn't cover, how much is it going to cost me, not just biweekly, but overall, even annually. Even if they want to drill down to the level of their own personal status, whether they're single or married or have children, they can even ask to sort of have breakdowns in that manner.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Ray Smith after the break.
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Workers' paychecks are set to feel the squeeze from higher health care costs and less generous raises. Wall Street Journal reporter Ray Smith joins me. Ray, for several years, switching jobs has often been a path toward a substantial pay increase. Wouldn't that balance out higher benefits costs that might come out of someone's check?
You would think so, but the pay bump for switching jobs has collapsed to its lowest level in years. The gap has narrowed between the pay bump that job stayers get and the pay bump that job switchers get. The payoff is just not as quite as robust as it used to be. And so you're not seeing that advantage that you might have had in the past where the pay bump you got would automatically sort of cover any expenses or increase in expenses that you have.
So if it's getting harder to negotiate higher pay, what else can job seekers do?
One thing they often don't think about are the benefits.
How will rising health insurance costs and flat raises affect my paycheck in 2024 and beyond?
And mainly, people should really think about when they're negotiating or they're interviewing the total compensation, not just the pay or the dollar amount, the salary, but benefits. the whole total compensation package, and that includes benefits. We talked to a number of experts, and they told us that especially younger people often forget to or don't think about asking about health plans and benefit costs. They're so focused on the dollar amount and making more money. And so that's one thing that people neglect and to their detriment.
So what kinds of questions do recruiters suggest that candidates ask about benefits beyond just what will be the biweekly deduction from my check?
They should really ask what seemingly are like basic questions like what does the plan cover, what it doesn't cover, how much is it going to cost me, not just biweekly but overall, even annually. And if there's anything to say about what kinds of options do I have in terms of choosing whatever health care plan is going to benefit me the most. And they could really make an effort to try to request an interview or a discussion with me. a human resources official to go over details of the plans and how it's going to affect them. Even if they want to drill down to the level of their own personal status, whether they're single or married or have children, they can even ask to sort of have breakdowns in that manner.
If people don't ask these specific questions about benefits, what types of perks could they miss out on?
They could miss out, especially on sort of additional perks besides health benefits. They could miss out on things like knowing they can have Fridays off or additional PTO or tuition reimbursement if they're doing some kind of continuing education or even tuition assistance for childhood education.
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