This week my employer sent out notice that they are pulling back some of our existing benefits. So far they are saying its just a preventative measure, and no layoffs are planned.

I can’t say its a big shock to me. Seems like every workplace is cutting back, and I would rather have them take these measures than take more drastic ones in the near future. And our CEO has been saying since the beginning of the year that things will be tight with the way businesses are spending this year.

• No More 401k Match – Our company has always had a 4% match on our 401k contributions. As of this week they will no longer be matching anything. This has me thinking about starting up a standard IRA since without the match there is no incentive for continue to fund their plan which has limited choices (at least until I get over the $5,000 limit).

• No Performance Based Raises – We will not be getting any raises based on our yearly evaluations, so my pay will be flat this year. This is probably the most disappointing change for me since I am one of the stronger members of my team and usually get a pretty good raise each year.

• No Vaction Rollover – Previously we were allowed to roll over 5 vacation days a year (non-accumulating, so not 5 this year, 10 next, etc). I’m actually not really sure how this saves the company money, but it just means I have to use 5 more vacation days this year. Personally I think they have been wanting to get rid of this for a couple years and are able to use this as an excuse.

They say they are hoping these changes are temporary and they will be able to reinstate them for next year.

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