"The Baby Boon"
Posted by deegee
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"The Baby Boon" August 28, 2008 |
I suppose some of you have read this fine book by Elinor Burkett. The subtitle is "How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless".
I am nearly 50 pages into the book and it is a great read. I am amazed at the expense some companies will incur to cater to all the moos who work for them. I am just finishing the part about some exchanges between family-friendly (FF) folks and CF folks, some of them a little nasty, about how clueless the FF folks are about the privileges they have in the workplace and how the CF folks have to bear the costs or are unable to partake in any of the perks.
While my company is not nearly nutso about the FF stuff (we don't have subsidized daycare, for example), the part about the health benefits hit home with me. If I may rant a little, here is my situation:
I switched from full-time work to part-time work back in 2001 after 16 years of FT work. I got burnt out but my 16 years of experience they did not want to lose. I did some telecommuting for 27 months before the bigwigs ended that (for everyone, on an open-ended basis). I still could work PT but had to haul myself to the office 3 days a week, a long and tiring (and expensive) commute. Last year, I asked them to switch me to 2 days a week (12 hours per week) and they let me do that. However, I had to forgo my health benefits (H
because I needed 20 hours per week to keep them. Here is where my dander gets raised.
I offered to pay 100% of the HB premiums instead of the 50% I was paying when I worked PT (and the 25% I paid when I worked FT). They said no. I wrote a letter to my department's head and to HR, telling them if I quit my job and married a coworker I could receive (subsidized) HB from the company even though I would NOT BE WORKING FOR THEM. They still said no, claiming that because we have some older folks in our field offices who work less than 20 hours a week, I would now be considered costly and "high-risk" because I (age 45) would be in their "class" for rating purposes (and those folks are not offered HB either).
I reminded them that besides the spouse, the children of covered employees also receive (subsidized) HB which costs the company a lot of $$. All I wanted was the CHANCE to pay 100 PERCENT of my HB premiums.
I am on COBRA now but that expires at the end of this year. With no real incentive to stay with the company, and with the 2-days-a-week commute still awful, and with lots of $$ saved (by being CF of course, and some good investments in the 1990s, and my company stock options), I am going to retire by the end of the year. And in my exit interview, when they ask me why I am leaving, I will tell them, "You gave me no incentive to stay........if you allowed me to buy into your HB, I might have put up with the bad commute a little longer......but you choose to pay out $$ for the spouse and children of covered employees instead of offering HB to everyone who actually WORKS for you......"
Okay, end of rant. Thank you for your patience.
I am nearly 50 pages into the book and it is a great read. I am amazed at the expense some companies will incur to cater to all the moos who work for them. I am just finishing the part about some exchanges between family-friendly (FF) folks and CF folks, some of them a little nasty, about how clueless the FF folks are about the privileges they have in the workplace and how the CF folks have to bear the costs or are unable to partake in any of the perks.
While my company is not nearly nutso about the FF stuff (we don't have subsidized daycare, for example), the part about the health benefits hit home with me. If I may rant a little, here is my situation:
I switched from full-time work to part-time work back in 2001 after 16 years of FT work. I got burnt out but my 16 years of experience they did not want to lose. I did some telecommuting for 27 months before the bigwigs ended that (for everyone, on an open-ended basis). I still could work PT but had to haul myself to the office 3 days a week, a long and tiring (and expensive) commute. Last year, I asked them to switch me to 2 days a week (12 hours per week) and they let me do that. However, I had to forgo my health benefits (H
because I needed 20 hours per week to keep them. Here is where my dander gets raised.I offered to pay 100% of the HB premiums instead of the 50% I was paying when I worked PT (and the 25% I paid when I worked FT). They said no. I wrote a letter to my department's head and to HR, telling them if I quit my job and married a coworker I could receive (subsidized) HB from the company even though I would NOT BE WORKING FOR THEM. They still said no, claiming that because we have some older folks in our field offices who work less than 20 hours a week, I would now be considered costly and "high-risk" because I (age 45) would be in their "class" for rating purposes (and those folks are not offered HB either).
I reminded them that besides the spouse, the children of covered employees also receive (subsidized) HB which costs the company a lot of $$. All I wanted was the CHANCE to pay 100 PERCENT of my HB premiums.
I am on COBRA now but that expires at the end of this year. With no real incentive to stay with the company, and with the 2-days-a-week commute still awful, and with lots of $$ saved (by being CF of course, and some good investments in the 1990s, and my company stock options), I am going to retire by the end of the year. And in my exit interview, when they ask me why I am leaving, I will tell them, "You gave me no incentive to stay........if you allowed me to buy into your HB, I might have put up with the bad commute a little longer......but you choose to pay out $$ for the spouse and children of covered employees instead of offering HB to everyone who actually WORKS for you......"
Okay, end of rant. Thank you for your patience.
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