What are your worker advantages actually price?

Benefits make up greater than 30% of the standard job’s compensation, based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But determining what your advantages are price is not all the time straightforward.

You could have to perform a little digging to seek out how a lot your employer contributes towards medical health insurance, retirement plans and different perks. Some advantages even have nonmonetary worth, and folks can worth the identical advantages in numerous methods.

For instance, folks with well being situations are more likely to recognize assured entry to incapacity or life insurance coverage that might be exhausting to get or prohibitively costly in any other case. Someone with scholar loans could worth a program to assist with training debt way over somebody with out scholar mortgage debt.

Now that open enrollment season is upon us once more, it is a good time to overview your employer’s present choices. Understanding what your advantages are price might renew your dedication to your present job — or make you notice it is time to hunt down a greater deal. If you are pondering of changing into self-employed, you may higher perceive how far more you may have to earn to exchange your present advantages.

Here are among the commonest advantages, together with typical employer contribution quantities, based on Mercer, an worker advantages guide.

Health insurance coverage: $5,000 to $20,000

Employer-provided medical health insurance plans vary from naked bones to pretty extravagant. On common, although, employers paid 83% of the $7,739 premium final yr for single protection and 73% of the $22,221 premium for household protection, based on KFF, a medical health insurance analysis group.

You can discover what each you and your employer paid in your medical health insurance final yr in your 2021 W-2, mentioned Paul Fronstin, director of well being advantages analysis on the Employee Benefit Research Institute, or EBRI. The annual determine is usually reported utilizing a “DD” code.

Your employer additionally could get away its contribution in your pay stub. A pay stub is a doc that gives the small print of your gross and after-tax pay together with varied deductions. You typically can entry your pay stub by means of your organization’s on-line payroll system; ask your human assets division for particulars.

Premiums are only one consider evaluating your well being care protection, in fact. Deductibles, co-pays and supplier networks matter as effectively. Having entry to several types of plans could make open enrollment extra complicated, but it surely additionally will help you tailor your coverage to your state of affairs.

Retirement financial savings plan: 3% to 10% of wage

EBRI surveys have persistently discovered that the profit staff worth most after medical health insurance is entry to a retirement plan, with all different advantages coming in at “a distant third,” Fronstin mentioned.

People who’ve office retirement plans reminiscent of 401(ok)s are much more more likely to save for retirement than those that do not, based on AARP. These plans supply computerized paycheck deductions, and plenty of signal folks up routinely as effectively.

Most 401(ok)s additionally include firm matches — free cash that may assist staff construct wealth sooner. Among the commonest matches are 50% of the primary 6% of wage the employee contributes, or a dollar-for-dollar match of three% to six% of pay.

Employers can contribute a fair larger share of pay to conventional pension plans, which promise a specified month-to-month profit quantity in retirement. That’s in distinction to 401(ok)s and different outlined contribution plans, the place the quantities you get in retirement depend upon how a lot is contributed and the way your investments carry out.

Pensions are nonetheless frequent amongst authorities companies, schools and well being care nonprofits, though solely about 15% of personal sector employees have entry to such plans, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Everything else: zero to 1000’s

Employers that present dental insurance coverage normally pay $500 to $2,500 a yr for the protection, based on Sandra Sweeney, principal in Mercer’s profession observe. Life insurance coverage averages $100 to $300 per worker, whereas incapacity insurance coverage normally prices $250 to $1,500.

Employers could supply entry to different protection, reminiscent of extra life insurance coverage, long-term care insurance coverage or pet insurance coverage. Workers usually pay the total price however could profit from group charges for the insurance policies, Fronstin mentioned.

Help with training prices is more and more widespread, as effectively. About half of employers supply tuition help, based on the Society for Human Resource Management. And of the businesses surveyed by EBRI final yr, 17% provided some sort of scholar mortgage debt help whereas one other 31% deliberate to take action.

Workers may also exclude as much as $5,250 of tuition help from their incomes on their tax returns, based on the IRS. And by means of 2025, the restrict consists of scholar mortgage compensation assist, as effectively.

Remember that your employer gives advantages to draw, retain and reward employees. If you are undecided what all of your advantages are, or what they’re price, your human assets division needs to be glad to fill you in, mentioned Fronstin.

“Ask your employer,” Fronstin mentioned. “It’s not a secret.”

This column was supplied to The Associated Press by the non-public finance web site NerdWallet. The content material is for instructional and informational functions and doesn’t represent funding recommendation. Liz Weston is a columnist at NerdWallet, an authorized monetary planner and creator of “Your Credit Score.”