Is your employer turning into your nanny? 13

[bridgebuster]

Perhaps a bit off-topic, since this could apply to more than the engineering profession, is your employer turning into your nanny? Is your employer trying to be your mother, father, big sister, and best friend?

Earlier this month, nanny, kicked off the 2020 edition of the Wellness program. To those not familiar, it’s an assortment of annoying things employees (and their dependents) must do to get a discount on health insurance in the next year – things like tell nanny how many fruits and vegetables I ate today, how many steps I walked today, what did I do today that made me mindful, and it goes on, The website encourages us to form teams to have fun together and crush our wellness goals. It’s like a modern-day Hitler Youth rally. My sister works in a hospital and all she must do is answer a brief questionnaire and get a flu shot for her discount. what do other engineering companies do?

This year is worse, nanny, doubled the minimum number of wellness points from 100 to 200. Now I’m wondering if it’s worth doing it’s not like nanny gives us a great insurance plan. Last year, I was paying $160 bi-weekly for me and my better half. This year I’m paying $220 bi-weekly after the $28 bi-weekly discount, which was greatly reduced from previous years (stockholder wellness is more important than employee wellness). And the deductible is still $5,000. The wellness program is enough to make me want to vote for Bernie with his Medicare for all.

You can just imagine what our safety program is like

 

[geotechguy1]

Just wait for Fitbit to come up with an under-skin fitbit with built in GPS tracker.

Your employer will probably want to tie compensation to your blood pressure and resting heart rate. Can't invest in training an asset with a short life!

 

[bridgebuster]

$200/mo was 30 years ago. Now I pay $600/mo for me and my wife, with a $5k deductible.

 

[Comcokid]

geotechguy1 - they don't need a GPS tracker. You buy groceries, scan your grocery card for gas points, and pay with a credit card. So your junk-food purchases are tagged to your name in two databases. The cell phone you carry confirms it was you and not your kid. You sit at home and watch Netflix instead of exercising with your cell phone in pocket. So they see you're inactive, watching questionable content online, and your cell phone geo-location and accelerometers confirm your inactivity. And at any time your cell phone mic or camera can be turned-on remotely to get more data. Your doctor keeps records with cholesterol and blood pressure that are not private data anymore.... Ever heard of China's project Dragonfly? China was just the test-bed for Google... Shall I go on?

 

[geotechguy1]

I've got an X-box and an Alexa so I think they've pretty much got live video and sound through most of my house

 

[bridgebuster]

George Orwell must have been a prophet

 

[Latexman]

Another Nanny-like behavior of my employer is every year they increase our participation in the 401(k) by 1% until we are at 10%. They think we are not capable of planning and executing on our retirement.

Good Luck,
Latexman

 

[bridgebuster]

We're offered 5 wellness points for speaking with a financial advisor with the 401 administrator. I agree with you; this is a no-brainer.

 

[WinelandV]

George Orwell must have been a prophet

He sure as shootin' wasn't writing it down as an instruction manual, yet here we are.

 

[phamENG]

If I may bring in another viewpoint on some of these items: consider those in the first 1-10 years of their career.

Many people who are just starting out do not know what "work-life-balance" means and may need help finding it. That includes balancing the demands of an entry level engineering position (60+ hour weeks, etc.) and eating well and exercising. Providing these perks can help shift somebody's focus to these areas. Granted, I do think this is secondary - this one is mostly a profit motive as the insurance companies know that sacrificing $10 a month in premiums ($4800 over the course of a 40 year career) will probably save them 10s of thousands of dollars over the course of the person's life.

As for retirement plans, there is (or was) some need to re-educate people about retirement. I look at the experience of many of my colleagues and friends for an example. If I hadn't enlisted right out of high school, I would have walked out into the professional world and fallen straight into the deepest part of the abyss that was the financial crisis. Most people I knew in that situation either went through a round or two of layoffs and/or got a graduate degree or two while waiting for the job market to come back - all while racking up unconscionable debt and not getting worthwhile experience. In the meantime, they moved back in with their parents and watched as their parents retirement plans were seemingly crushed as 401k's fell through the floor. The result: a general distrust of investing and the established retirement planning techniques. For me, my dad is a blue collar worker and, until he was laid off a few years ago, had an old fashioned pension to look forward to. He didn't really need to learn about retirement planning and so didn't really teach me beyond basic savings accounts. So creating these programs that are compulsory unless you opt-out, they help people who otherwise may not venture into that kind of plan for fear or ignorance make the step toward planning for their future.

One key thing here is the "opt-out" I mentioned. If that's not there, then it is a problem. These programs are great for those that need them, but if you don't then you should have the flexibility to follow your own financial plan, etc.

 

[Latexman]

We have no "opt-out"; I went down that path. It ends when one contributes 10% of their own money.

I will have a pension, my wife will have a pension, we both will have SS, and I have enough banked in a couple accounts to have a good retirement when I pull the trigger. I still contribute 5%, so I get the company's 4% match (3% @ 100% and 2% @ 50%), but I don't want to contribute more. I've taken care of my retirement needs. That's why it riles me.

Good Luck,
Latexman

 

[phamENG]

Latexman - then I agree with you 100%. Social Security is the safety net for people who are unable or unwilling to set aside for their future. Your employer shouldn't be forcing you into retirement savings.

Here's an alternative, though: contribute it to a Roth account. Since you pay the taxes going in, it's a lot easier to get the money out again earlier without penalty. I'm sure there are special rules that I'm not aware of, but my financial planner informed me that, since much of my 401k is in Roth, I have access to the money if I need it (though they advised against that, of course).

 

[Latexman]

It's all going into our Roth 401(k), I have too much in tax deferred already. I'm starting to get concerned about the "tax torpedo" when I turn 72.

Good Luck,
Latexman

 

[sushmithagowda]

Almost, all the companies that I know employ several thousand folks self-funds, so basically everybody but small-business.


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[phamENG]

Latexman - first I've ever heard of the tax torpedo. Interesting. Adding it to my list of casual reading...

Thanks.

 

[Latexman]

It's when RMD's (required minimum distribution) kick in at age 72 (now) and you have to start emptying your 401(k)'s and IRA's and paying for those deferred taxes. Remember, it's deferred; not tax-free. I have a pension, my wife has a pension, we both have SS, and we have a decent nest egg in a 401(k) and an IRA.

Here's a Link. While there, use their search for "tax torpedo". Dozens of threads.

Also, to minimise the effects of the tax torpedo, look up "Roth conversion".

Good Luck,
Latexman

 

[DrZoidberWoop]

My employer is definitely not my nanny. It's a mutually negotiated position where I'm reimbursed for providing value to the company beyond my salary, same as everyone else. Occasionally, I get sent to job-sites for conflict resolution and repair negotiation. They trust me to use my judgement to either escalate or resolve particular issues. I think the place I work has a lot of issues, like lack of redundancy for key/older employees, but the amount of freedom given to the small group of engineers is remarkable. Small/medium business is so refreshing compared to corporate.

 

[PEDARRIN2]

When I started in 2003, my company had about 100 employees and was self funded. My cost for a family plan was $0.50 per month (that is not a typo). Today, we have about 250 employees, still self funded and my monthly cost for a family plan is $176.00 which is orders of magnitude percent increase, but still much lower than other similar plans. I think my deductible is $750 but I could be wrong since I seldom use my insurance and use a pre tax FSA to pay out of pocket.

 

[CWB1]

I sign up annually for the family plan with the most coverage, usually its ~$300/month with dental, vision, and either insignificant or zero copays and deductibles. When I was considering freelance contract work a few years ago I quoted insurance through the various professional societies, IIRC they were all fairly similar at ~$600/month with ~$3-5k deductibles.