[speaker001:] okay now you can tell me what you do
[speaker002:] uh well I work with computers just like your son
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and I actually do research in speech recognition
[speaker001:] oh great
[speaker002:] and so as part of the reason I'm participating in the project is to see how the stuff goes but um
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] I was working well actually I haven't worked for any large companies per se
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] uh recently but hopefully the job that I will have will have lots of benefits namely lots of vacations not real good salary but lots of vacations but
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah well the one John works for seems to have a lot you know good benefits and the pay is decent
[speaker002:] um-hum yeah the uh well actually where I was working with the company one of the companies I was working for actually had very good health care benefits which these days I think are really important because health care is so ridiculously expensive because we're we're paying our own insurance right now
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh uh um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] for it um and I'm we actually had a little baby so I'm taking a little bit of a time off from work ah congratulations
[speaker001:] oh great I had I had a granddaughter
[speaker002:] and um so one thing that I'm very concerned with now is first of all health benefits because it's more important with a family and you know our doctor's visits routine doctor's visits covered my health insurance only covers um
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] your emergency care and so
[speaker001:] um-hum do you have major medical benefits
[speaker002:] right yeah but I don't
[speaker001:] that that helps some if it depends on what your deductible is how high it is
[speaker002:] right well my our deductible is five hundred but it's for each
[speaker001:] each person yeah that's pretty hard that's pretty high
[speaker002:] event yeah right but you know so it covers the emergency things but it doesn't cover if you get sick it doesn't cover
[speaker001:] right that's that's right that's
[speaker002:] doctor's visits things like that
[speaker001:] and five hundred dollars is a lot to come up with for each person to be able to start using your major medical too
[speaker002:] oh yeah it certainly is
[speaker001:] yeah I know where my daughter works now she she course we live in a a rural sort of setting and where she works she has no benefits at all and her her wage is not
[speaker002:] um um-hum wow
[speaker001:] not very good
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] but it's a it's a type of area we live in of course living expenses aren't as bad either though which makes a difference
[speaker002:] and probably the medical care care is less expensive too
[speaker001:] well she has to pay for it herself you know they have to pay for their own insurance but uh
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] uh
[speaker002:] so I think that in general the doctor's fees are probably lower there and so the insurance would cost lower
[speaker001:] uh well from what I've seen from my aunt and uncle really from Florida up to here they're not that much different
[speaker002:] well I know that friends of mine had a baby up in Boston and their costs were about fifty percent of what it cost to have it in Manhattan
[speaker001:] uh-huh is that right
[speaker002:] and they were at one of the better hospitals and you know good doctors in Boston
[speaker001:] uh-huh oh that's a big difference
[speaker002:] and I was at one of the big hospitals in New York but that's a huge difference just between
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know and it's two big cities that I think of as somewhat comparable
[speaker001:] oh yeah should be
[speaker002:] so I was pretty shocked at that but the other thing that I'm really concerned about and most companies don't have some are starting to have is day care because it would be really nice to be able to have
[speaker001:] yes uh-huh
[speaker002:] you know someone that could watch my daughter at work and I'd go to work and if she were sick I could go down and see her if she needs to be fed whatever it is
[speaker001:] and it'd be much more convenient yeah it would be more convenient too um-hum oh yeah yeah my my other daughter works and has they have to take their two children to day care you know
[speaker002:] and I it would be more convenient more productive I think uh-huh
[speaker001:] and uh it it's it's I don't know how they do it I really don't you know getting them there and then and going to work and then picking them up and all the preparations
[speaker002:] and your and your and your hours are much more constrained and things like that
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and that to me well that you know those three things the health care vacation and day care are probably the most important benefits I should suppose I should be concerned with
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] life insurance and uh retirement plans but
[speaker001:] oh I don't know I think those benefits you mentioned mentioned sometimes they're even more important than you the wage itself
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] if you can get those benefits even uh they they come out to much a much better benefit than than an increase in your wage a lot of times
[speaker002:] right because you're you know certainly something like day care at the work place would like make life so much simpler that it's worth paying you know having a lower salary I would certainly accept a lower salary for that
[speaker001:] uh-huh um-hum um-hum oh yeah oh yeah it make it a lot better
[speaker002:] you know everything else being equal because your life would be so much easier and there's a question of quality of life also
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh well and if it was there you would really have a little more uh knowledge on what's going on probably you know with your child
[speaker002:] yep right and you you you don't feel like you're a half hour away if she something happened
[speaker001:] right yeah
[speaker002:] and you're less preoccupied with it I think
[speaker001:] right yeah
[speaker002:] so but unfortunately there aren't I think IBM has started having that in certain locations
[speaker001:] I don't know my daughter one daughter works for MCI and they don't they where she works they don't have anything like that
[speaker002:] uh-huh is that locally
[speaker001:] uh Pittsburgh
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
[speaker002:] yeah because Pittsburgh's a big enough city too but you know I wouldn't be surprised if thing's like that didn't happen more in smaller communities before they happen in bigger ones
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] just because people might be more flexible in smaller locations and
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] things like that because many times small companies offer better benefits in terms of quality of life than larger companies
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] like uh one company had proposed to me that I could come back to work after having the baby um any where between ten and forty hours a week
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and um you know call call my own days call my own hours and
[speaker001:] oh so they were very flexible and that that would be great yeah
[speaker002:] yeah and and you know which many times at a large company it's almost impossible
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] to do things like that
[speaker001:] they say you're going to do it this way and that's the way it's going to be yeah
[speaker002:] right and if you get two weeks off you get two weeks off and you're not allowed two weeks and one day
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and so it all depends on what your position is there too
[speaker001:] true well that's true in any any company I think
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] uh I've I've never well I can't say I've never I've maybe worked five years out of our married life out of the home you know out of the home
[speaker002:] um-hum uh-huh
[speaker001:] but uh the rest of the time I've been an Avon lady and a lady
[speaker002:] was that when you were um well those have its pluses and minuses too I've been a consultant recently and so I don't have any benefits at all and
[speaker001:] uh-huh um-hum and you have to take care of any benefits you want yourself yeah
[speaker002:] right and the same thing my husband is unfortunately being paid as a consultant and we tried to argue that he should get more salary for that than what he is and um they they they
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh usually consultants make very good income
[speaker002:] right and they they refuse to give him more salary
[speaker001:] is that right
[speaker002:] because they say they can't pay more than this and that and they're not allowed to pay him more than what his previous salary was and things like that and you know times are rough now so it's new it's harder to get
[speaker001:] uh oh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] the uh your increases and things but um
[speaker001:] um-hum a consultant consultant consultant really is should be more knowledgeable than everybody else you know so it stands to reason they should really have have more benefits
[speaker002:] yeah well the right well he's been doing a long term he's being called a consultant and he's really sort of a temporary employee at a place
[speaker001:] uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker002:] and they they pay him as a consultant but he doesn't get any health benefits he doesn't get well we don't care about retirement benefits he doesn't get um vacation benefits and he does a lot of things that
[speaker001:] um um-hum
[speaker002:] get factored into somebody else's salary so really his salary should be you know twenty percent or thirty percent higher just based on that not including the fact that you know it's a less long term commitment for the company and all that sort of stuff
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum yeah um-hum yeah and they'll do it