[speaker001:] okay well are you still there
[speaker002:] yeah I'm here
[speaker001:] yeah uh we got real good benefits where I'm at although they're becoming uh less and less every year so that they're taking a little bit more away uh especially when it comes to health care benefits do you guys uh have full coverage where you're at
[speaker002:] yeah well we do um it's it's funny that uh that you mention that because health care benefits are really a big issue nowadays because of the skyrocketing costs in general yeah our benefits uh we we have a choice between an HMOs between various HMOs or just straight uh straight off major medical Blue Cross Blue Shield and um seems like the main idea of insurance companies is to try as hard as possible to deny benefits and collect uh premiums as much as possible
[speaker001:] yeah yeah I I I agree uh you you pay a lot of money into them and then when you finally do have a claim they uh they really stick it to you they say that it doesn't meet their uh
[speaker002:] they're
[speaker001:] you know their their minimum amounts or something like that they've always got these uh these plans set up where they they've got a certain amount benchmarked for like a certain operation or something but when you go to that doctor it's always like ten or fifteen dollars more than what they'll pay for
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] and uh that's one thing that really bothers me down here they say that uh the the primary or the the customary fee should be fifty dollars but then the most of the doctors around here charge seventy five so it doesn't really keep up with what they actually have so it's kind of a they they kind of take from you a little bit there and uh the uh
[speaker002:] yeah absolutely
[speaker001:] other thing about Pratt's benefits uh when I first came here five years ago they really had like the best I thought that I'd ever had and since then you know they've the staggering skyrocketing uh medical costs like you've said uh they've really had to cut back on what they give people because it was just taking too much money out of the company
[speaker002:] yeah it's expensive uh it's very expensive for the company to uh to pay all the benefits out uh if you want to talk for a second about non health benefits uh at my office we have free drinks free beverages
[speaker001:] wow
[speaker002:] and uh that's really popular that's very uh a lot of people like that where we have uh all kinds of uh uh well here we call it pop I guess on the east coast you'd call it soda and uh juices and
[speaker001:] oh you have soda
[speaker002:] oh coffee and tea and uh uh spring water hot and cold and soups and that's
[speaker001:] well that's pretty good benefit then
[speaker002:] yeah it's very nice uh often if you're just having trouble thinking and doing your work you can just get up and walk to the kitchen and uh make yourself a cup of tea a fresh cup of tea herbal tea or whatever and
[speaker001:] yeah well I didn't I guess I never really thought about that as a benefit we we can get up and go to our cafeteria and you know and pay to get something to drink but I guess I guess that is kind of a benefit just to have a place to go do that
[speaker002:] yeah oh definitely it gives you a chance
[speaker001:] yeah we we have a real nice cafeteria we can go to that anytime during the day and it's always it is always nice to go down there and get a coffee or a tea or a juice
[speaker002:] sure absolutely and get your and give your mind a rest
[speaker001:] yeah that that's that's always good uh do you guys have like a savings plan
[speaker002:] uh well the company offers a 401K but they don't contribute at all
[speaker001:] uh our uh we we're really lucky in that respect our for every dollar we put in Pratt Whitney'll match us sixty cents
[speaker002:] so so that is great
[speaker001:] that that that that's real good and that's that's one reason why I why I really like that
[speaker002:] yeah that that that is a very nice benefit one of the things that we have lacking is the number of vacation days we have uh only two weeks vacation a year
[speaker001:] does it depend on how many years you've been there
[speaker002:] no it's just across the board
[speaker001:] wow that's really something uh at Pratt it's uh if you're there eight years or less it's two weeks and as soon as you get your eight year in you get three weeks and then when you get uh fifteen years you get another week so you know a guy who's been out been out there for like twenty five thirty years get about uh you know five weeks vacation paid a year
[speaker002:] yeah well in the technology industry it's such a young industry that there aren't very many people that have been in it for a very long time so they don't have the same uh
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] scale although at other jobs I've had I've I've had three weeks vacation
[speaker001:] ah
[speaker002:] so uh so stripping down to two was uh
[speaker001:] how are your how how how important is that you know your benefits when you sound like you've uh done some job hopping you've had more than one job then
[speaker002:] uh three I've had three
[speaker001:] oh okay with that how many how much time did you spend with each one
[speaker002:] very short
[speaker001:] oh okay
[speaker002:] the first the first job with the first two were a year and a half each
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] and uh and after that I worked for two years
[speaker001:] wow
[speaker002:] at the company I'm at where I plan to stay for a while
[speaker001:] okay and and that's up in in Pittsburgh you said
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] that's right but you know in the the computer the computer industry is a little bit more liberal with benefits in general
[speaker001:] hm
[speaker002:] I think than other industries um in terms of uh flex hours and just the you know the whole attitude of the work place
[speaker001:] ah that's another that's another benefit I forgot to mention we have flex time
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you also have that
[speaker002:] that's right
[speaker001:] that's one of my favorite benefits uh ever since I've been ever since I graduated from school in eighty six every job I've had has always