One way companies determine what types of benefits to provide is to use a survey asking employees about what types of benefits are important to them. Read the following list of employee benefits. For each benefit, mark an X in the column that best indicates whether it is important to you. Benefit | Important to Have | Not Important to Have | Percent of Employers
Offering the Benefit | Dependent-care flexible spending account | | | 70% | Flextime | | | 64% | Ability to bring child to work in case of emergency | | | 30% | Elder-care referral services | | | 21% | Adoption assistance | | | 21% | On-site child-care center | | | 6% | Gym subsidy | | | 28% | Vaccinations on site (e.g., flu shots) | | | 61% | On-site fitness center | | | 26% | Casual dress days (every day) | | | 53% | Organization-sponsored sports teams | | | 39% | Food services/subsidized cafeteria | | | 29% | Travel-planning services | | | 27% | Dry-cleaning services | | | 15% | Massage therapy services at work | | | 12% | Self-defense training | | | 6% | Concierge services | | | 4% |
Compare your importance ratings for each benefit to the corresponding number in the third column, which indicates the percentage of employers that offer the benefit. Are you likely to find jobs that provide the benefits you want? Explain. Source: Based on Figure 2, "Percent of Employers Offering Work/Life Benefits (by Year)," in Workplace Visions no. 4, (2002), p. 3, published by the Society for Human Resource Management.
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