Employee Benefit Practices In Netherlands And USA

Employer benefits vary in different countries. Usually existing in form of non-wage compensations that are provided to employees as bonuses to their normal wages, the benefits according to BLS Information” Glossary, (2008), help motivate the workers into positively and more precisely improving their living standards

Apart from the United States, employee benefits are also prevalent in other countries. In fact, some countries offer far better benefits than the US does. Taking a case scenario of Netherlands for example, employees are known to work least compared to those in other countries including the US. Ironically enough, the Netherlands registers a high rating in terms of gross domestic product and high standards of living.

To mention but a few benefits in the Netherlands and on a general platform, employees receive 28 paid vacations annually as well as 16 weeks of maternity leave with full salary and auxiliary payments. As evidenced by Ohio University MBA Programs (2015), Typical American employees on the other hand spend more than 60 percent of their time at work and persons are entitled to maternity leaves of up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave annually. An even closer comparison using airline companies in the two countries reveals even more difference. Taking a case of the KLM Dutch Airlines in the Netherlands, an excellent pension scheme is further strengthened by an 85 holiday allowance and a fixed monthly salary.

Age and position dictates how much benefits one gets. Generally, an employee with a 40-hours work limit in a week, working on the ground, gets a minimum of over 24 holiday days and auxiliary 6 days off. Crossing back to the US, an employee in Delta Airlines receives benefits in health insurance, employee discount as well as vacation. Whether on a permanent or temporary contracts, one is able to access 8 buddy passes per year and can get full benefits after 30 days depending on seniority of the job position as long as they are working onboard. While in international realms, the employee however pays landing taxes as well as departure ones. Apart from that, an employee gets 96% off the lowest fare an almost all the other airlines and can travel through the first class if available.

Some of these disparities vary with the companies and in some cases, the US may be at the frontline. However, on a world rating, Netherlands spearheads the employee benefits domain.

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