instructions

spreadsheet for actual assignment

questions that actually need to be answered:

You have been retained as a benefits consultant by Andy Wolfscn. He has hired you to structure a benelits program that will eflectively attract and retain employess for USA Credit at their new location in Las Vegas. The focus of the benefits package you develop will be customer senvee associates whe answer calls from credit card customers dealing with acoount issues. Other employees working at this facility will have a different benefit package. All of the information necessary for developing a benefits package is in these materials. Background information USA Credt is a major financial services organization with growing interest in the private label eredit card area. Private label credit cards are cards esued for individual retallers, like fumiture companies or gas stations. USA Credit started three years ago when it successfully acquired the credit card portiolios of five major U.S. retalers that were interested in outsourcing their credit card prograns. Since then, in has grown to a $1.5 bilion business servicing 25 retaiers with their 6 milbon cardholders. Since its founding. USA Credit has targeted medium-sized retalers that like the customer closeness associated With having their own credit card but who lack the rechnieal expertise to elfoctively manage the credit eard business. USA Credit's business plan projects that it will double in size in the next two to three years. It also plans to develop a bark card product ard angressively market it to small finaneial institutions that need this servee to compete with the "mogabanks" moving into theic aren. Since its founding. USA Credit's offices fboth stort: bastid and regienal have boen staffed with part time employees working 20-25 hours per week. The farge malority of its employees are fuili-time students, mothers of school-age chidren, and senior ciezens Ermployees have been paid waget simitar to thope offered by other ontry ievel empleyers in the arsa, such as: fast,food restaurants and retalers. No employee benofits nave boun offered, except those requared by taw. fevery monthe aga, uSA Credit s top management feam decoded its fucure goss would be: be met by eatabisting a nobonal semice center to roplace the tefy anal and in store cittit ottices. The firm's inferration tnchnolowy is more than capable of supporting such a suft and exocut ines besiere that this would eftectivnly pos tion the cormpany for the expected ahort term gromth, as woll as a lang temt pivn se expand into Mewico and Canatis. They wish to attract a fur-ime mothdorce to provide stabity anf a levml of peobessiorialsm as hew accounts are arsoraates is eiperted ta docutin cuer the neat terw years. the recommendation was unanimously approvod by the executive toam for implomentation. Groundbreaking is scheduled for nect month. Andy Woitson's new chalenge is to assemble a benefit plan for the new full-time customer service associates who wel be working at the faciity. In addition to its stafe-ofithe-art intomation systems technology, the competence and courtesy of its associates are expected to be major soures of competitive advantage for USA Credit. If the company is going to eontrue its tuccess during the upcorming growth period, if was be because it didnt lose focus on curent cuslomars. The customer service associates at the national sarvice center an expocted to be critical contributors to this effort. Ancy has requested a variofy of information Arom sources concemng the labor pool and the benefits packapes of other area busnesses Meno 1 centains information about iocal condtions that Andret Elrch fits compied from other sources. Andrea is an analyat for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Bosed on the information Andrea sent in her merno, Andy deveioped and sent a preliminary proposal to USA Credt's oopporate vice presidect for admenstration Xavier Ortenpo. In his memo, Andy made several sugeestons, but the primary one is that USA crecit offers a good but below-maket wage so it can effer more in its benefts package. Memo 2 is Xavers respenee to Andy? suggeeticns. Working with heoliticare comparies and with iocal mevarance comparies, as wet as other benefits comparies, Andy develeped a ist of pessible benefit choices and their conts These potential eflerings are itemized in the List of Posstale Beciefits at the end of these materais: To complete the assigrment, you need toc 1. Determine she budget arvount for the benelits package 2. Cakifiate the arnount for mandatory benetits 1 Soiect benet ts Hor your benefits procrem cets N0 arda RA. As mquestad, I reviewed the information you provided conceming the Customer Service Associate pocitions planned for your Nevada Service Center. First, lat me tell you that 1 think you'll be pleased with your decision to locate here. Gambling casincshoteis are our foremost employers atcounting for 55 porcent of the total jobs in the area. Second are tourist-related organizations such as smat rental cay companies, jocal motek, and restaurants. From the worker's point of view, these businesses are cyelical and there is httle job socurity. However, good casing workers are paid very wel, both in base wages as well as tips. However, despite the good compensation, ertployee beneft prograrns are very meager. If you position USA Credt as a soid finanou services eempany with a pieasant, stable work atmorphere, you witl have no dificulty finding skilod, reliable workers in particular, you would represent an excelicht opportursty for a "eatino pattner" whese concern for stable employment and a comprehensve berielits package - with particular emphasis on farmiy optiont - is an mpartant factor in choosing and staying with a job. Even if one or moro benelits weroyontritutary, access to the coverage would be valuabie to these warkers. Thum, in a market that wodld nermally eall for hourly wages of $16.00 and up we beieve that your Customer Service Associate pogtaps could be filid with competerit employees in the $16.00 io $16.50 per hoar arge it the benefits plan were atiractive. An requenked, 1 am aso pleased to provide you with some tocal in tarmarion conceming paid time off in ins area. Most appanithtions in this mancet provide tuo weeks of vacation atter one your of service and increase ths to teee weeks atter five yeass Typicaly firths lorated hem otter 5 to 8 didys wck leave per year and 5 to 7 paid hodedes Be awatt. howevet, that there is quate a bit of variance acress cerfanieatiors ielifing to thinge piracticein fircar you feat ween te tut Wif tan idintify the neat timp it ths procesk Thank you for your work censtructing a benefits package for our National Service Center. Having reviewed the copy of the merno from Andrea Birch with the Las Yogas Chamber of Commerce about the worker marketplace in Las Veqas, I support your recommendations. Our oniginal estimates were for a Customer Service Associstes total rewarch package of 522.50 per hour. We arrved at this number by including a financial servicas industry standard of 25% for benefits. Benefits were beoadly defined to include mandatory ceverages, time otl, and varous other programs. Your mcomrnendation - that this amount is redistnbuted by reducing the tverage houty pay rate to $16.25 and by increasing the fringe benefit amount to 38% of the base nate - makes sense. I aiso have no strong foelings about whether or not same benefits require employed contributione - provided that this would not intertere with our prefered employer strategy, Nso, I read in yesterday f newspaper that catetena benefits are becoming increasingly popular. Would suctron appecacti otler you any advantagns? If it does? encoumge you te incorporate it into the dosign of your program. Corisider this your approval to dratt eit benefits program as oud ined above. f iook forward to rnceving your final mocrmmendations and articipato evek Exocutive Camrnateo appiova because tre successhul statting and managernent of the National fiervice Center ore orticat to Ush Gredit's tusinnss stategy, future qutwit, and coverai siaccesen List of Possible Benefits What is the hourly wage that each customer service associate will be paid? There is a specific amount given by your supervisor. (Answer is in Memo 12) Enter your answer as a number-only, do not use a dollar sign. Question 2 2 pts What percentage will be used as the base rate for the bonefits program? There is a specific amount given by your supervisor. (Answer is in Memo N2) Enter your answer as a number only, do not use a % sign. What is the total budget for your emplovee benefits program? (Answer will come froma cell in the spreadshect) Review the lecture for this module for an explanation of how total budgets for employee benefits are normally calculated. Enter your answer as a number onlys do not use a dollar sign or commas. Question 4 5 pts How much of your total employee benefits program are you spending on mandatory benefits? (Answer will come from the total of cells M15.M19 in the spreadsheet) Enter your answer as a number onlyc do not use a dollar sign or commm. Describe the benefits package you developed in the space below. Include a list of all the benefits that you picked for your program. For example, if you provided five days of sick leave, write-5 days sick leave. What was the total cost of your benefits program? If your number exceeds the number you entered for Question 04, then you need to reduce your benefit offerings until the total package is in the back. Enter the number in the space below. Total ularm Total benefici bustert: corment value of efinen tavetas Ovety Whler bukcert Ute laserance 1 yearsuiy 2 vase alay Dytes aky 100 120 1200 At i\$s.000 lor aponat t1:300 aer dish 100 1004 Tutien resity mement foppove ansuta en prarkm enst sin GMtcare katwely Lind teim inuelery 1003 4Ne Pait wecates, par ber Piat hoderim, per ilay pait sick leave, per dey 406 +108 46 * Al cunts antial whical ecterw ar itates You have been retained as a benefits consultant by Andy Wolfscn. He has hired you to structure a benelits program that will eflectively attract and retain employess for USA Credit at their new location in Las Vegas. The focus of the benefits package you develop will be customer senvee associates whe answer calls from credit card customers dealing with acoount issues. Other employees working at this facility will have a different benefit package. All of the information necessary for developing a benefits package is in these materials. Background information USA Credt is a major financial services organization with growing interest in the private label eredit card area. Private label credit cards are cards esued for individual retallers, like fumiture companies or gas stations. USA Credit started three years ago when it successfully acquired the credit card portiolios of five major U.S. retalers that were interested in outsourcing their credit card prograns. Since then, in has grown to a $1.5 bilion business servicing 25 retaiers with their 6 milbon cardholders. Since its founding. USA Credit has targeted medium-sized retalers that like the customer closeness associated With having their own credit card but who lack the rechnieal expertise to elfoctively manage the credit eard business. USA Credit's business plan projects that it will double in size in the next two to three years. It also plans to develop a bark card product ard angressively market it to small finaneial institutions that need this servee to compete with the "mogabanks" moving into theic aren. Since its founding. USA Credit's offices fboth stort: bastid and regienal have boen staffed with part time employees working 20-25 hours per week. The farge malority of its employees are fuili-time students, mothers of school-age chidren, and senior ciezens Ermployees have been paid waget simitar to thope offered by other ontry ievel empleyers in the arsa, such as: fast,food restaurants and retalers. No employee benofits nave boun offered, except those requared by taw. fevery monthe aga, uSA Credit s top management feam decoded its fucure goss would be: be met by eatabisting a nobonal semice center to roplace the tefy anal and in store cittit ottices. The firm's inferration tnchnolowy is more than capable of supporting such a suft and exocut ines besiere that this would eftectivnly pos tion the cormpany for the expected ahort term gromth, as woll as a lang temt pivn se expand into Mewico and Canatis. They wish to attract a fur-ime mothdorce to provide stabity anf a levml of peobessiorialsm as hew accounts are arsoraates is eiperted ta docutin cuer the neat terw years. the recommendation was unanimously approvod by the executive toam for implomentation. Groundbreaking is scheduled for nect month. Andy Woitson's new chalenge is to assemble a benefit plan for the new full-time customer service associates who wel be working at the faciity. In addition to its stafe-ofithe-art intomation systems technology, the competence and courtesy of its associates are expected to be major soures of competitive advantage for USA Credit. If the company is going to eontrue its tuccess during the upcorming growth period, if was be because it didnt lose focus on curent cuslomars. The customer service associates at the national sarvice center an expocted to be critical contributors to this effort. Ancy has requested a variofy of information Arom sources concemng the labor pool and the benefits packapes of other area busnesses Meno 1 centains information about iocal condtions that Andret Elrch fits compied from other sources. Andrea is an analyat for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. Bosed on the information Andrea sent in her merno, Andy deveioped and sent a preliminary proposal to USA Credt's oopporate vice presidect for admenstration Xavier Ortenpo. In his memo, Andy made several sugeestons, but the primary one is that USA crecit offers a good but below-maket wage so it can effer more in its benefts package. Memo 2 is Xavers respenee to Andy? suggeeticns. Working with heoliticare comparies and with iocal mevarance comparies, as wet as other benefits comparies, Andy develeped a ist of pessible benefit choices and their conts These potential eflerings are itemized in the List of Posstale Beciefits at the end of these materais: To complete the assigrment, you need toc 1. Determine she budget arvount for the benelits package 2. Cakifiate the arnount for mandatory benetits 1 Soiect benet ts Hor your benefits procrem cets N0 arda RA. As mquestad, I reviewed the information you provided conceming the Customer Service Associate pocitions planned for your Nevada Service Center. First, lat me tell you that 1 think you'll be pleased with your decision to locate here. Gambling casincshoteis are our foremost employers atcounting for 55 porcent of the total jobs in the area. Second are tourist-related organizations such as smat rental cay companies, jocal motek, and restaurants. From the worker's point of view, these businesses are cyelical and there is httle job socurity. However, good casing workers are paid very wel, both in base wages as well as tips. However, despite the good compensation, ertployee beneft prograrns are very meager. If you position USA Credt as a soid finanou services eempany with a pieasant, stable work atmorphere, you witl have no dificulty finding skilod, reliable workers in particular, you would represent an excelicht opportursty for a "eatino pattner" whese concern for stable employment and a comprehensve berielits package - with particular emphasis on farmiy optiont - is an mpartant factor in choosing and staying with a job. Even if one or moro benelits weroyontritutary, access to the coverage would be valuabie to these warkers. Thum, in a market that wodld nermally eall for hourly wages of $16.00 and up we beieve that your Customer Service Associate pogtaps could be filid with competerit employees in the $16.00 io $16.50 per hoar arge it the benefits plan were atiractive. An requenked, 1 am aso pleased to provide you with some tocal in tarmarion conceming paid time off in ins area. Most appanithtions in this mancet provide tuo weeks of vacation atter one your of service and increase ths to teee weeks atter five yeass Typicaly firths lorated hem otter 5 to 8 didys wck leave per year and 5 to 7 paid hodedes Be awatt. howevet, that there is quate a bit of variance acress cerfanieatiors ielifing to thinge piracticein fircar you feat ween te tut Wif tan idintify the neat timp it ths procesk Thank you for your work censtructing a benefits package for our National Service Center. Having reviewed the copy of the merno from Andrea Birch with the Las Yogas Chamber of Commerce about the worker marketplace in Las Veqas, I support your recommendations. Our oniginal estimates were for a Customer Service Associstes total rewarch package of 522.50 per hour. We arrved at this number by including a financial servicas industry standard of 25% for benefits. Benefits were beoadly defined to include mandatory ceverages, time otl, and varous other programs. Your mcomrnendation - that this amount is redistnbuted by reducing the tverage houty pay rate to $16.25 and by increasing the fringe benefit amount to 38% of the base nate - makes sense. I aiso have no strong foelings about whether or not same benefits require employed contributione - provided that this would not intertere with our prefered employer strategy, Nso, I read in yesterday f newspaper that catetena benefits are becoming increasingly popular. Would suctron appecacti otler you any advantagns? If it does? encoumge you te incorporate it into the dosign of your program. Corisider this your approval to dratt eit benefits program as oud ined above. f iook forward to rnceving your final mocrmmendations and articipato evek Exocutive Camrnateo appiova because tre successhul statting and managernent of the National fiervice Center ore orticat to Ush Gredit's tusinnss stategy, future qutwit, and coverai siaccesen List of Possible Benefits What is the hourly wage that each customer service associate will be paid? There is a specific amount given by your supervisor. (Answer is in Memo 12) Enter your answer as a number-only, do not use a dollar sign. Question 2 2 pts What percentage will be used as the base rate for the bonefits program? There is a specific amount given by your supervisor. (Answer is in Memo N2) Enter your answer as a number only, do not use a % sign. What is the total budget for your emplovee benefits program? (Answer will come froma cell in the spreadshect) Review the lecture for this module for an explanation of how total budgets for employee benefits are normally calculated. Enter your answer as a number onlys do not use a dollar sign or commas. Question 4 5 pts How much of your total employee benefits program are you spending on mandatory benefits? (Answer will come from the total of cells M15.M19 in the spreadsheet) Enter your answer as a number onlyc do not use a dollar sign or commm. Describe the benefits package you developed in the space below. Include a list of all the benefits that you picked for your program. For example, if you provided five days of sick leave, write-5 days sick leave. What was the total cost of your benefits program? If your number exceeds the number you entered for Question 04, then you need to reduce your benefit offerings until the total package is in the back. Enter the number in the space below. Total ularm Total benefici bustert: corment value of efinen tavetas Ovety Whler bukcert Ute laserance 1 yearsuiy 2 vase alay Dytes aky 100 120 1200 At i\$s.000 lor aponat t1:300 aer dish 100 1004 Tutien resity mement foppove ansuta en prarkm enst sin GMtcare katwely Lind teim inuelery 1003 4Ne Pait wecates, par ber Piat hoderim, per ilay pait sick leave, per dey 406 +108 46 * Al cunts antial whical ecterw ar itates