Salary and Benefits

Whether you're establishing compensation for your employees or just trying to negotiate a higher salary for yourself, you need to know the written and unwritten rules of employee compensations. Learn more about compensation, benefits, salary research, and salary negotiation.
New parents look at a computer screen together with their baby.
What Is a Leave of Absence?
Businesswoman taking an interview
What Is Job Classification and How Do Employers Use It to Pay Staff?
Young woman takes a selfie with family and friends during a holiday celebration.
What Are Employer-Paid Holidays?
Business people in a meeting to communicate and discuss the employee's pay raise.
How Managers Can Best Tell an Employee About a Pay Raise
Portrait of smiling family walking on the beach when the employees uses their paid vacation time
How Taking Paid Vacation Time Benefits Employees and Employers
What Pay Raise Can You Expect From Your Employer This Year?
Arrow on wall chart going up with stairs
How Does a Pay Grade Work for Employees?
Image shows a woman at a desk with a laptop, coffee, and a stack of papers. Text reads: "How Do Companies Determine Compensation? Market research about the worth of similar jobs, employee contributions and accomplishments, availability of employees with like skills in the marketplace, desire to attract and retain a particular employee, company's profitability or funds available in a non-profit or public sector setting, previous salaries"
How Is Compensation Determined for an Employee?
Employee sitting behind a desk at an office.
What Is a Base Salary?
Young woman with surfboard on beach
Why Your Company Should Offer a Floating Holiday
Manager disciplining an exempt employee
Find 5 Times When Docking an Exempt Employee's Pay Is Legal
A successful counteroffer can result in a win-win situation for employees and employers.
Increase Your Chances of Starting Work with a Higher Salary
Businesswomen discussing a job offer.
What Is a Job Offer?
Pregnant woman working at desk
12 Issues HR Must Consider When Dealing With Family Leave
Beach sunset
How to Ask for a Vacation When Starting a New Job
Business meeting at a conference table to discuss compensation
Want to Know Trends in Compensation for Forward Thinking Organizations
paid holiday schedule graphic
What's a Typical Paid Holiday Schedule in the US?
This illustration includes quick facts about legal holiday pay practices including "An employer does not have to pay hourly employees for time off on a holiday," "No federal law requires employers to provide time off-paid or otherwise-to employees on nationally recognized holidays," and "Employer is obligated to provide reasonable accommodation for the religious practices of its employees (unless it can show that the accommodation would result in undue hardship for its business)
Do You Know Your Legal Requirements Regarding Holiday Pay Practices?
pay cut laws and deductions in a paycheck
Learn the Legal Issues Related to Cutting an Employees Pay
Person shaking hands after a successful salary negotiation.
Follow These Tips to Negotiate a Win-Win Compensation Agreement
Average paid vacation days by years of service: 1 year = 7-8 days, 3-4 years = 12 days, 5 years = 14 days, 10 years = 17 days, 15+ years = 21 days.
Paid Vacation Day Basics
Here's How to Ask Your Employer for a Pay Raise
You may want to provide a signing bonus to people you need with hard to find skills and experience.
Why Might an Employer Choose to Pay a Signing Bonus?
How Is Executive Compensation Different From Other Employees?
HIPAA includes regulations that cover how employers must protect employees’ medical privacy rights and the privacy of their health information.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
Mature executive sitting at desk, talking to young man
How to Ask for a Pay Raise During a Tough Economy
An employment contract is always negotiated with senior managers.
What Is an Employment Contract?
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Can My Employer Reduce My Pay?
3 male mechanics stand listening to a manager
Why Would an Employer Perform a Job Evaluation?
You can make more money if you help the numbers go up at work.
Want to Know How to Make More Money Than You're Currently Making?
Businessman and employee discussing in modern factory
How to Use Sales Commissions to Motivate Employees
Woman going through insurance paperwork
It’s Open Enrollment Season. Do You Know What You’re Doing?
Close-up of tired thoughtful businesswoman with arms crossed at office
What You Need to Know About Workplace Violence
Every organization needs these five teams to start.
The 5 Teams Every Organization Needs
Should an Employer Increase Employee Hours with No Extra Pay?
Business owner at desk with a computer training temporary employee how to use the system.
For Employers,'Tis the Season for Seasonal and Temporary Employees?
Woman on Phone and at Computer and holding baby while working from home
Tips to Negotiate a Flexible Work Schedule
Allergies are just the worst
What Is Employee Sick Leave?
Unemployed woman reading COBRA letter in her home office.
What You Need to Know About COBRA
A woman uses her smartphone to deposit her paycheck to her bank.
What Is a Paycheck?
An hourly employee rings a customer up at a register
What Happens When an Employee Is Asked to Move From Hourly to Salary?
Selected candidate negotiates her starting salary.
What Can You Do to Maximize Your Starting Salary at a New Job?
You and your employer must keep your social security number secure to avoid identity theft.
Why Do You Need a Social Security Number for Work?
Getting down to the nitty gritty in a salary negotiation which is serious business.
What Affects Salary Negotiation When You're Hiring a New Employee?
Women and men sit and listen from the jury box during a court proceeding.
What Is Jury Duty?
Applicants for a job with a recruiter
Pros and Cons of Asking for the Salary History of a Candidate
Person on vacation
How Does Your Paid Time Off Compare With Other Employers?
Dad using his comp time to spend a day with his family in the kitchen.
Who Gets Comp Time and Who Doesn't?
Woman attending a class paid for with employer tuition assistance.
How Your Employer Might Help You Pay for Classes
It's difficult to prove whether employee assistance programs (EAPs) are effective for employers and employees.
Do EAPs Work or Do They Just Make Employers Feel Good?
Making sure the benefits you have are right for your family is the point of open enrollment.
What Do You Need to Know About Open Enrollment for Benefits?
Woman thinking at office desk
What Should You Do If You're Offered a Promotion Without a Raise?
Barista Using Digital Tablet At Cafe
Know the Impact of the Minimum Wage Increase?