dagger

Oh I see. Travel expenses are paid by the company. Per Diem is basically to cover food and misc.

Did that month of time off for vacation include sick and personal days or was that additional?

Thanks for the info guys, We have a high deductible plan with a health savings account. The company pays almost all of the premium. I'm a single 35yo male, and my deductible is $2k then after that insurance covers 100%.  

Steve, Thanks for the info! I tend to feel like our PTO time is low as well, but I have trouble confirming this will data.   Are you confusing Joe's health insurance with what I posted? I didn't say much about the specifics of our plan.  

Mark, The survey I got was a little more formal and extensive than that. I would guess that they are both based off the same data, and probably fairly unscientific. The information I'm looking for isn't if the job is good, bad, attractive, or unattractive. It is how do our benefits compare to others. I just wanted my own informal survey. You know, kinda see what is out there, and how we compare to it. Just a litmus test kind of thing. Joe's benefits seemed similar, ControlsGirl seems to have better time off, and AutoMax apparently has a pretty sweet gig. We are having difficultly finding people to even give offers. Beyond that maybe some hiring/retention trouble but those are always very complicated situations.

Mark, Average across the automation industry for folks with titles like controls engineer, automation engineer, process engineer, etc... A 2015 survey from Control magazine said that only 15% of those surveyed made over $140K. So $300K seems very impressive. I don't have access to my CSIA survey at the moment, but if I recall correctly the results were similar. Yes, certainly pay and benefits should be negotiable, but negotiations work best when people start with a reasonable foundation. That's why I'm curious if what we offer seems reasonable.  

Over $300k? Interesting...   But yes, this would be an entry level position. I'm sorry if I didn't mention that.   But really not a whole lot changes except PTO time for more advanced positions. 300k is will above the industry average, what do you think creates such a big short fall?

What amount of PTO and flex time do you consider more typical?

I'm trying to get a general feeling for what is typical of benefits for the industry. I know people get pretty squeamish when talking about salary so that's not what I'm looking for. I'm curious about the other things. I have an opportunity to change things up at my workplace, and I want to make sure that we are competitive or at least in line with other companies. Here is our information for an entry level position: We are a general industrial integrator servicing several industries. Our controls engineers have at least a BS. Starting benefits are as follows: Area of employment: Chicagoland Area USA 4 hours of weekly flex time Two weeks a year PTO time. This encompasses any time off vacation, sick, personal, etc... (+1 week after 5 years) Paid time off for (at least 6) federal holidays Simple IRA plan with 3% company match HD HSA, $2k deductible for individual with 100% converge after deductible, company pays a most all of premium Salary pay based on 40 hours (no OT) Meals and misc. per diem for overnight travel paid at Federal Rate by location (Travel expenses paid on company card. hotel, flight, rental car etc...) Mileage paid at federal rate I believe that our pay is on par with CSIA averages.   Thanks in advance for any information you are willing to share.