When most people are contemplating their first job, they tend to think about the salary they want. This is perfectly understandable. A good salary is the most measurable of all of the forms of compensation that one can receive at a job - and the most easily compared. One can look at the salary that one is receiving and in an instant compare it to the salary that another company is offering - or to how much one's best friend from high school is making. The relationship between employer and worker is at its root a commercial one. This does not mean that it cannot also be other things, but it is primarily an economic one - an exchange of various compensations for a certain period and amount of labor. Because of this economic core to the relationship, money should be a central concern when negotiating the terms of one's employment.
However, money - at least directly, in terms of one's salary, is certainly not the only form of compensation that an employer can provide and as one's experience grows in the work force one is more and more likely to appreciate these other forms of compensation, which can include 401k plans, health benefits, support for continuing education, on-site child-care, flextime and company time permitted for volunteer work.
This paper examines the full range of benefits - in addition to direct compensation - that employers provide today and determines which benefits are the most valued. Of course, different people want different kinds of benefits, not o
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