A human capital-based perspective of why, how, and how much employers should compensate their employees in forms other than cash. Topics include human capital, incentive and sorting effects of compensation, economic incidence of benefit costs, social security, DB and DC pensions, group life and health plans, and flexible benefit programs.
Athena Title
Employee Benefits
Prerequisite
RMIN 4000 or RMIN 4000E or RMIN 4000H
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Students will be able to identify the main types of employee benefits used by employers in the U.S. and summarize their principal features and governing legislation.
For any benefit, students will be able to infer why an employer may choose to pay employees partly in that form and why employees may choose to accept compensation partly in that form.
For any benefit, students will be able to determine the approximate cost of that benefit and how it is split between employers and employees.
Students will be able to determine the financial and other implications to employers of modifying benefit structures and use their analysis to determine an appropriate benefit design fora given employer.
Students will be comfortable with the use of discounted cash flow techniques, with both survival and interest, in the context of employee benefits.
Topical Outline
Human capital
Employers and compensation
Who bears the cost of employee benefits?
Mandatory benefits - Social security, Unemployment Insurance and Worker's Compensation
Retirement plans
Group health insurance
Other benefits
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
