Are “benefits” calculated on top of the hourly rate?

8 comments

1. Benefits are generally separate from hourly rate.

   Hourly rate is typically gross (pre-tax).

   Edit: the one big one that will affect this the most is health insurance. Usually your employer pays a portion of your premium and you get a discounted rate but it still comes out of your pay.

   For example. Let’s say you work 40 hours a week for $20/hour.
   So you’re getting $800/week gross. Your employer provided health insurance is $450/month but your employer pays for $250/month, leaving you responsible for $200/month. So out of that $800 gross per week, $50 would be taken each week and put towards your health insurance.

   That’s just an example, actual health insurance plans and premiums will vary a lot between regions and different employers have different programs for how much they cover vs how much you pay, etc.

   Most other benefits are totally separate from your gross pay though

2. Pay is generally stated before tax and other deductions. It will likely not account for any benefits.

   How the benefits work is very fact-specific and we probably can’t answer it in as abstract a manner as you’ve stated it. For example, if one of the listed benefits is health insurance, you’ll likely be paying some amount out of your salary. How much, we absolutely cannot say in the abstract.

3. Hourly pay would be gross… before benefits like health insurance is taken out, any money set aside for 401k, before taxes are withheld.

4. Pay is gross, the benefits depends on what the employer has arranged. You get more detailed info about them when you get further along in the hiring process.

5. So like days off or is the employer pays a portion of your health care?

   No, we dont add the benefits to the hourly wage.

   So for instance average pay for a Massachusetts state cop is 145K.

   That does not include the 40 dollars a day to drive their own vehicle to work, the monthly stipend for work out gear, their medical insurance, their tuition remission, uniform and gear, life insurance, etc.

6. Hourly pay is gross (before taxes), benefits are separate. If someone says they are getting paid $20/hour, or 45k/year, that’s before all taxes, 401k/pension contributions made from their paycheck, etc.

   How much the employer pays for your benefits depends on the employer, it can range from all of it (uncommon) to none of it (also uncommon).

   If you want to calculate yearly pay from an hourly rate, assuming full time work, just multiply the hourly rate by 2080.

7. Hourly pay is what they will pay you per hour to work, gross.

   Benefits can start tearing away at that. For instance, if your health insurance plan is $500/mo, and your employer will pay $300 of that, then the other $200 comes out of your check. The same thing would happen with retirement. Some places will match a percentage for you to put away. So if they will match 3% of your pay, you have to elect to have 3% taken out of your check, and they will match that investment for you.

8. No. The pay rate would be gross (before taxes and deductions)