Are you an employee? If so, it’s very important that you understand all the benefits that come alongside your salary or wage. As an employee, especially if you work for a large company, you may be surprised at just how many benefits you may be overlooking. In order to ensure that you are taking full advantage of all your benefits, request benefits information from your employer and read through the material carefully.
If you are lucky, your employer will be willing to match contributions you make up to a certain percentage into your RRSP. If this is the case, be sure to open an RRSP through your company’s group plan as soon as you are eligible to receive the free money. If you already have an RRSP set up outside of your work, consider diverting the contributions over to your work plan where you are eligible for the benefits and use your other RRSP only if you want to contribute over and above what the company will match.
Many employers often offer various types of health benefits for things such as dentists, prescription medications, therapy, podiatrists, and much more. Check out the cost for each benefit that would be deducted each pay period, and then decide whether or not it is worth your while to apply for the coverage. Only sign up for what you know you will use, and make sure that you will be able to recoup your costs by making use of the benefits throughout the year.
Some employers also offer free counseling services. If you are feeling stressed or need to deal with something and need someone to talk to, rather than paying for counseling, see if your employer has a service available free of charge.
As an employee, you may also be able to benefit from discounts on various services provided from other companies. For example, you may get 10% off at certain restaurants, or preferred prices on car services simply by being an employee of your company.
It will take a bit of your time to do the research, but if your employer does offer some or all of the benefits mentioned above, you will save a lot of money and feel more appreciated as an employee. So, as much as I would love to be my own boss, I must admit there are some perks to being an employee after all.
7 Comments