Benefits take big bite from pay
Just
about any way you cut it, Carolina employees come up short when
it comes to take-home pay.
In October, Associate
Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Laurie Charest made a presentation
to the Employee Forum that showed how much benefits costs eat
into Carolina employees' paychecks compared to their counterparts
at peer universities. The result: take-home pay here ranked
13th out of 13.
|
One more opportunity to give
The
Employee Forum has organized a food drive of canned goods
and non-perishable items to benefit Chapel Hill, Carrboro
and Chatham County food banks.
Deadline for donations is Dec. 15.
For more information, including campus drop-off points,
contact Katherine Graves at 843-4900 or kcgraves@email.unc.edu.
|
At the forum's Dec. 3 meeting,
Charest made the same comparison for state employees in eight
southeastern states, including North Carolina. The result: take-home
pay for North Carolina workers -- which include University employees
-- ranked last again.
The comparison used hypothetical
40-year-old employees making $25,000 and $75,000 a year, with
their benefits covering retirement and family health insurance.
Also included in the calculations were federal income and Social
Security taxes.
Along with North Carolina,
the analysis looked at Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
For all of these states,
the average monthly take-home pay for the $25,000/year employee
was $1,658. For a North Carolina employee, it was $1,404. The
average for a $75,000/year employee was $4,835, versus $4,499
for North Carolina.
Charest said North Carolina
employees' out-of-pocket premium costs for family health insurance
coverage was the "driver" behind their relatively low take-home
pay.
"It's what makes
all the difference," she said.
A comparison of nine southeastern
states that included -- except for Georgia -- the eight in the
take-home pay analysis showed that North Carolina employees
spent $427.48/month on family coverage premiums, most among
the group.
It was $71.48 more than
the next highest, Mississippi, and $328.48 more than the lowest,
Virginia.
North Carolina workers
who opt for employee-only coverage fared better, because the
state picks up the entire tab for their monthly premium costs.
Two other states in the comparison -- Mississippi and Kentucky
-- also cover these costs for their employees. At the other
end of the spectrum is Louisiana, where workers pay $97.02 each
month.
Charest said having workers
pay some of their employee-only premium costs so that the state
could subsidize more of the cost for employees with family coverage
is something that is worth discussing in the state legislature,
though the State Employees Association of North Carolina has
opposed the idea.
And contrary to intuition,
she said, if the state were to offer an employee/spouse option,
it would actually cost more than family coverage. That's because
these couples tend to be older and therefore have higher medical
bills, so they cost more to insure.
The study revealed that
North Carolina was one of three southeastern states in an 11-state
group that offered only one health plan to employees. The other
two were Alabama and Mississippi. Georgia, South Carolina and
West Virginia offered the most choices, at six each.
Charest also compared
employees' retirement benefits and costs, and North Carolina
came up short here as well.
Workers here contribute
6 percent of their salary to their retirement. Among the states
examined, only workers in Mississippi contribute more, at 7.25
percent. Tennessee, Florida and Virginia employees contribute
nothing. But employees in those three states also get the least
amount of cash benefit, with workers who end their careers with
a $25,000/year salary getting annual retirement payments of
$8,845, $9,434 and $10,319, respectively.
Still, the payout for
the same North Carolina employee is only slightly better at
$10,888 per year, fourth lowest among the 11 states examined.
Forum delegate David Brannigan
called Charest's presentation "powerful ammunition" for the
University to make the case to the North Carolina legislature
that benefits need to be improved for state employees.
Charest said University
employees could join in that effort.
"You have this information
now, so you can use this information," she said.
The analysis also broke
down how southeastern states govern benefits for employees at
universities within their borders. Schools in Kentucky and Virginia
control their benefits as does Georgia's university system.
North Carolina is among the remaining seven states where campus
employees' benefits fall under the jurisdiction of the state
government.
"It's a difficult
situation because we don't have the authority on this campus
to improve the situation," Charest said.
Charest has presented
similar material to University trustees, and Board Chair Richard
"Stick" Williams addressed the forum at the Dec. 3 meeting.
While he understands the state's budget constraints, he said,
"The one thing you risk is balancing the budget on the backs
of people who make things work."
Williams said the board
will continue to press the legislature for adequate resources,
even if officials approve a proposal to use revenue from campus-based
tuition increases to raise staff pay. (See story on page 7 for
details.)
"We've got to be
careful not to let the state off the hook," he said.
Chancellor James Moeser
also addressed the forum, and he said proposals to use tuition
revenue and funds in the five-year financial plan to bolster
staff pay indicated how seriously the campus takes this need.
(See story on page 7 for details.)
"Staff compensation
ranks among our highest priorities because we know it is critical
to retaining and recruiting excellent employees," he said. "More
important, you and your colleagues deserve it."
On a related note, the
forum passed a resolution calling for the state legislature
to fund fully the Comprehensive Compensation System. Adopted
by lawmakers in 1994, it calls for merit pay and, at minimum,
annual cost-of-living increases for all state employees.
