Author Topic: Negotiating non-salary factors  (Read 3697 times)

lilactree

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Negotiating non-salary factors
« on: April 13, 2016, 09:33:49 AM »
Any thoughts about the following:

Discussing a possible new job for DH with a small business owner; a salaried position that he would be excited and passionate about, and that will provide valuable experience in building a career that has high earning potential. The employer is probably limited in how much salary they'll offer, but is open to profit-sharing and may be open to flexible things like working remotely some of the time (e.g. when not meeting with clients).

Meanwhile, major costs for the family include full-time daycare, commuting (yes, cars), housing (which is currently temporary with family as we think about possibly looking for a house to buy), food (which includes homemade baby food and minimally-processed naturally gluten-free foods -- this is time-consuming), massive massive student loan debt and of course everything else especially since we are in a high cost of living area.

FIRE is not actually a goal right now but may become one; actually if we can manage with not needing both of us working full-time in a few years, e.g. if I could just work part-time, that might be even more appealing/seem more attainable right now.
 
So, back to the actual question, any thoughts about non-salary compensation like flexibility and how that can help save costs? We could ask for working from home 1-2 days a week for example, but what else could we be thinking about and/or how can something like this help us save money? I work full-time business hours and can't work from home, but perhaps could move within the company and work remotely 1 day a week, maybe.
« Last Edit: April 13, 2016, 09:43:04 AM by lilactree »

LAGuy

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2016, 10:06:16 AM »
You can ask for whatever you want. The more in demand the skills of your husband, the more likely is to get what he wants. That said, a small business owner may not have tons of flexibility on those issues, nor may he want to deal with it. Especially if he has other options on whom to hire. Best of luck.

Axecleaver

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2016, 01:01:04 PM »
Quote
any thoughts about non-salary compensation like flexibility and how that can help save costs? We could ask for working from home 1-2 days a week for example, but what else could we be thinking about and/or how can something like this help us save money?
Soft comp is often much easier to negotiate. There is value in telecommuting, or job training, or more vacation days. You may find that there is some minimum amount of money that is required to consider the job. Be prepared with that number to help negotiate the deal. Some commonly negotiated fringe benefits:

* Company vehicle
* Expense account
* Planned telecommute days
* Reduced travel
* Job training/conference attendance
* More Vacation/personal days
* Healthcare reimbursement rate (ie, higher family match)

If there's a commission aspect, it's often easier to negotiate higher commissions, because then you're making money for the owner. Business owners love it when you bring win/win proposals to the table. Consider trading salary for higher commission if you're confident in DH's abilities.

lilactree

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2016, 09:23:23 AM »
Thank you, LAGuy and Axecleaver.

The list is pretty helpful. I think the training and the expense account particularly seem valuable for us, but we hadn't thought of them. Also the commission piece.

MsPeacock

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2016, 06:17:29 PM »
I would add flexible hours - e.g. coming in at 0700 or 1000 or whatever, in addition to telecommuting.

chasingthegoodlife

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #5 on: April 22, 2016, 02:57:04 PM »
Great thread! In my industry (social work) there is often little scope in the organisation's budget for salary negotiations.

Some of the common benefits that can add value to a role are:
* Garaging a company vehicle - if the company keeps a fleet of vehicles for work use they are often each assigned to staff member who garages the car at home and can drive for personal use on evening and weekends.
* Rostered day off - my favourite! I work an extra 24 minutes each day and get a paid day off each month additional to my vacation time. Love having this 'free' day to decompress and do errands without feeling guilty about using my vacation and I would usually end up staying back a few mins at the end of the day to do notes anyway.
* Flexi time generally
* Pre-tax benefits - are you able to purchase anything useful with your pre-tax salary? In Australia most charitable organisations are able to offer their staff up to 16k tax free, which is a massive benefit, but even big business may have options to purchase things like laptops, car leases, bus passes etc pretax
* Study leave - paid time off to attend formal study and reimbursement of tuition. Often much more useful for future earning than the odd conference or professional development day.

Depending on what the company does , can you get any free or at-cost goods or services?

Also take into consideration how well the new arrangement will support your own frugal behaviour. A previous role where I could bike to work, good coffee and fruit were provided and I was usually in the office at lunch time made it a lot easier to save on small expenses that my current job where I'm often on the road 9-5 without access to kettle or microwave.

Good luck - hope you negotiate a great deal!



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Davids

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #6 on: April 22, 2016, 04:43:22 PM »
Other than 401K Match you can pretty much negotiate anything else you want.

lilactree

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2016, 02:12:12 PM »
These are good, thanks!

This is intriguing, from chasingthegoodlife:
"Also take into consideration how well the new arrangement will support your own frugal behaviour. A previous role where I could bike to work, good coffee and fruit were provided and I was usually in the office at lunch time made it a lot easier to save on small expenses that my current job where I'm often on the road 9-5 without access to kettle or microwave."

Anyone have additional, specific examples?

mm1970

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2016, 04:29:52 PM »
Flexible scheduling
Free coffee
Free snacks
Subsidized gym memberships
A shower at work (so you can bike, or go for a run at lunch)

Flexible scheduling example: I have kids.  Many times in the last several years, I have found myself needing to go to the doctor. 
- My OB was close to my home
- My kids' Pediatrician is close to my home
- My kids' school is close to my home

- Both dentists are near work.

Why does this matter?  I realized during pregnancy that it made NO SENSE to drive to work (10 miles) at 7:30 am, drive back to home (essentially) to go to a 10 am appointment (early appointments were difficult to get), then drive BACK to work afterwards.  So, I started just working from home on those mornings, and save myself the 20-mile round trip.

Same thing when there are kid things that need to happen near home.  Like school events in the morning. 

In the next year or two, I may end up just leaving work early to pick up the kids a few days a week, and save myself some after school care.  Fall 2018 little guy will be in 1st grade.

ETBen

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Re: Negotiating non-salary factors
« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2016, 06:04:36 PM »
convenient timing that you posted this.  Its helpful to see others weight it all out.  I'll be posting something similar.  I can't figure out how you consider financial factors against non-financial or quality of life ones.