Most NMI employers give only medical, vacation benefits

Most CNMI employers provide group medical insurance and vacation benefits to their employees, and only a few provide other “benefits” such as premium pay and dental and life insurance.

These are based on the newly released results of the “benefits” portion of a survey that the Saipan Chamber of Commerce conducted through the Guam-based The Employers Council.

The Chamber previously released the results of the “wage and salaries” survey, which showed that CNMI public and private employers pay their employees anywhere between $3.25 an hour and $100 an hour.

The Chamber conducted its prevailing wage survey for employers applying for H-1B and other INA visas for their employees.

A total of 218 private and public employers participated in at least one of the two portions of the Chamber survey, while 213 participated in the wage and salary portion and 202 participated in the benefits portion.

Of the 194 employers who answered the question on group medical insurance, 120 or 61.9 percent said they provide such benefit to their employees while 73 or 37.6 percent said they do not have such benefit to their employees. One or .5 percent said they pay for personal healthcare plans.

Only 73 or 37.8 percent of 193 participating employers said they provide dental insurance to their workers. A total of 120 or 62.2 percent does not provide group dental insurance program.

Only 54 employers said they have basic life insurance program for their employees. This represents only 28.7 percent of the 188 employers who participated in this survey question. The remaining 134 or 71.3 percent does not have such program.

Supplemental life insurance to employees is provided by only 10 employers in the CNMI-out of 190 who answered the question about this. The rest, 180 or 94.7 percent, does not provide this.

Education/tuition assistance plans are also made available by 16 of 188 employers.

Only 16 of 187 employers also provide profit sharing, while only 72 of 189 employers have 401(k) retirement savings plans.

Retirement benefits other than 401(k) plans are provided only by 26 of 189 employers.

However, 98 or 51.9 percent of 189 employers provide paid sick leave.

A total of 134 of 166 employers provide bereavement leave.

Long-term disability benefit is provided by only 11 of 186 employers, while premium pay is given by only 12 of 183 employers.

The average number of holidays observed by 192 participating organizations is 6.5-the minimum is zero and the maximum is nine.

Vacation benefits are provided by 114 or 62.3 percent of 183 employers.

As for bonuses, 39 of 195 participating employers provide such benefit “only broadly based on individual performance or achievement.”

Another 33 employers said they pay bonuses to employees “sometimes” and 123 said they do not pay such bonuses.

Only 77 of 190 employers provide automobile allowances to “specified employees” while 113 do not give such benefit.

Of the 191 employers participating in the survey on housing allowances, 101 or 52.9 percent said they provide this benefit.

Results of the Chamber’s “2011 Survey of Wages and Salaries among Specified Jobs and Organizations in the CNMI” are now available online at www.saipanchamber.com, free of charge.

The CNMI Department of Commerce will also conduct its own “census” of all public and private businesses in the CNMI.