[speaker001:] okay should begin
[speaker002:] okay all right
[speaker001:] uh I can begin this um basically I work for Honeywell in Minneapolis
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and the the benefit program we have here is really quite good I'm I'm pretty pleased with it they cover uh just about everything vision dental medical
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] uh you name it and for me this is the first job I've had where they've covered that much so I'm pretty satisfied myself
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] um what's your situation
[speaker002:] I I work for the University of New Hampshire and uh
[speaker001:] oh
[speaker002:] our benefits package isn't uh isn't quite as good in in some ways uh you know overall I'm satisfied with it we don't have the vision care we do have the health care and the uh and the medical or the dental
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh
[speaker001:] are you a professor there
[speaker002:] no I work in I'm in a on the professional administrative and technical staff and I effectively I run the telephone switch at uh at the University of New Hampshire
[speaker001:] oh I see okay
[speaker002:] uh so the uh the the benefits uh probably the main thing I like about the benefits is the uh the uh very generous vacation time and sick time we get
[speaker001:] oh no doubt
[speaker002:] we get we get fifteen days a year sick time and uh we get twenty four days a year right from the day one when you start work you get twenty four days a year uh time off
[speaker001:] right oh that's good yeah that's one of the things I guess I would change about Honeywell is uh
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] I used to work with the Army Research Institute and being a uh a government organization you got quite a few holidays off
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] but here you don't get that you maybe get two or three a year
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] so it's really unless you unless you have some vacation time or some some sick leave or whatever um you kind of have to finagle your way around to get that time so
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] that's that's kind of a drawback I think but uh I don't know what do you consider most important you think in terms of of the different benefits
[speaker002:] well I think uh the the health care of course is an important in has to be the single most important benefit
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and uh the rates that we keep paying seem to keep increasing uh you know I'm I'm a little disturbed about that but I think that's a national trend and I don't know that uh I don't know what the solution is to it it's bigger than just the benefits part
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I don't know if you saw on Twenty Twenty the other night they uh they basically reviewed Oregon's plan or The Oregon Plan toward uh nationalizing health care and that kind of thing
[speaker002:] uh-huh right
[speaker001:] it's kind of an interesting plan it's kind of cold though they've essentially made up a list of uh oh all the different uh medical medical maladies that you can have and they basically made a cutoff about six hundred and eighty seven and below will not be covered by by uh subsidized health care and and the ones above would
[speaker002:] oh yeah um-hum huh
[speaker001:] so it's kind of like drawing this line and and if you have it great if you don't you're kind of out of luck
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but um it was an interesting show
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] I think you're right I think health care is probably the the most pressing
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] uh the pressing one but I'll tell you I I I don't mind having dental you know sometimes dental costs can be um just about as expensive if not more and I know historically a lot of companies I think carried dental as a rider along with the medical
[speaker002:] right um-hum
[speaker001:] but I'm not sure that's that's widely followed any more I'm not sure how how does uh University of New Hampshire handle it
[speaker002:] well we have two different plans that we can subscribe to under dental uh depending and and the cost between them is very is very little I think it costs me something like five dollars a a month for the dental plan
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] but it pays uh a substantial amount I mean the examinations and and uh checkups every year or every six months are free
[speaker001:] great
[speaker002:] and uh it it covers the bulk of the dental expenses
[speaker001:] is that uh let me interrupt is that the same for both uh professors and and also staff and administration is that generally across the board do you think or
[speaker002:] uh yes it is the the benefits plan is different for operating for what we call operating staff which are considered to be uh clerical personnel accountants things like that as opposed to what they call the P A T staff which I belong to
[speaker001:] right um-hum
[speaker002:] and but the main I think the the health and all that and the dental is the same for everybody and the retirement plan but
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] the main difference is in the uh the way sick time is accrued and and vacation time is accrued
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] uh for the operating staff it's on a seniority it's uh you know based on how long they've worked there
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] uh that determines how much uh vacation time they get
[speaker001:] yeah I'm kind of interested because I'm actually that's the route I'd like to take when I finally get my degree
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] is to uh is to teach in university
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] I'm a doctoral student in Florida right now
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] but um yeah that's that's interesting that's one of the things I'd like to think about is in what kind of benefits they would uh they would cover and things like that
[speaker002:] college programs uh belong to this T I A A uh C R E F retirement fund
[speaker001:] oh is that right
[speaker002:] right and in the case of the University of New Hampshire uh