Here are some ways your employer may be able to help after you have been let go. After years as a faithful employee, don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Ask For a Later Date
If you have been a solid employee, be sure to summarize the projects you’ve been working on and would like to see to completion. Within reason, an employer likely will be able to afford you for a few more weeks of pay while you start the hunt for a new job. This doesn’t mean you have to be a push over but you can assert that your knowledge and your experience can certainly help smooth over the transition until thing resettles.

Cash In Unused Time
If you have vacation, personal, or sick time that you have not used, cash it in. Don’t be shy about it either. Remember to also include any reimbursements and bonuses that may be owed to you. Some people may feel awkward about asking for these things but the reality is these are things you are entitled to receive and you should fight for it.

Get A Good Word
Before leaving, ask your employer for a written letter of recommendation. If you are on particularly good terms with your boss, inquire about their resources and connections for finding you a new place to work. Your employer already is familiar with your work ethic and experience and may give you a leg up on the stiff competition in the job hunt.

Inquire About Part-Time Work
When a company is in the middle of a downsizing situation, they tend to be short-staffed leading to chaos. Ask about working in another department, even on a part time basis until something new opens up or you find another permanent job.

Whatever you do, don’t burn a bridge out of frustration or anger. You will want to leave with the dignity and respect of your employers because you never know who can help you move forward into a new job.

How Your Employer Can Help When You Get a Pink Slip was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

Many employees take advantage of the flexible spending accounts offered by their place of employee in order to save money in the event of a medical emergency, for check ups, medical co-pays, and other medical situations that maybe health insurance just does not cover.

FSA’s are part of a company’s benefits package where employees have a set amount of money taken out from automatic payroll deductions which is then allocated to the employee’s flexible spending account. The deductions for the FSA monies are made on a pre-tax basis with is a plus, as that means you are not paying any taxes on that amount of income.

Flexible spending accounts can certainly come in handy, especially during an medical emergency or an unexpected medical situation. The bad side of flexible spending accounts is that no matter how much money you have put aside into your account throughout the year, you will likely lose it if you don’t use it by the end of December. With most flexible spending accounts, there is no option for carry-over of funds into the next year so many people will end up just flat out losing that money, which can be accumulate quite nicely over the previous twelve months. In some cases, the rules have changed and you are allowed to make claims for up to 45 days after the end of the year, meaning you have until March 15^th to make some appointments with the medical community.

So what should you do if you still have some money in a flexible spending account? If you act now, you can probably still squeeze in some appointments before the end of the year is up. Here are some suggestions for spending your funds.

Dental Work

This may be a good time to invest in any dental work that is more than minor but still covered under the FSA requirements. For instance, cosmetic and elective dentistry such as teeth whitening is not allowed but you can use your money to have your teeth cleaned.

Vision Services

You should be getting your eyes checked at least every two years and now is a great time to get your vision checked, your eyeglass prescription changed, your contact prescription evaluated, or just a general eye health exam. You can also use your flexible spending account to get LASIK eye surgery or an extra pair of glasses you might not otherwise be able to afford.. The FSA can really come in handy when vision plans are not part of your standard benefits package.

Medical Exams

Seeing your family physician for yearly physical exam is always a good idea. Even though we are often too busy to make such appointments, perhaps losing a bunch of money will be a good enough motivator to check in with your health.

Prescriptions

If you are running low on any of your prescriptions, you can use your FSA money to pay co-pays on medications or even for over the counter medications. Stock your cabinet with cold medicines, headache and pain relievers, and any other medications you will typically use throughout the year.

Use It Or Lose It – What to Do With Your FSA was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

The answer will probably depend on your personal circumstances, but the question will cause most people to consider how much their benefits are actually worth to them.  Chances are- the benefits you receive from your full time employment are worth more than you think.

100% Value-  Many companies offer benefits packages that represent an additional 100% of value to the average employee’s base salary.  In other words- the cost of the benefits the employee receives is equivalent to the amount they receive in salary.  If you make $40,000 a year and get $40,000 a year in benefits- it gives you a bigger picture of what you actually earn from your employment, doesn’t it?

Pension/healthcare: In some instances, employees will receive a pension and/or health insurance even after they’ve retired.  If this is the case for your place of employment, you are likely receiving more than 100% of your salary in benefits over the long term.

You’ll hear often people comparing their salaries to the national averages for their job industry, or sayign they aren’t being paid enough for their work.  You will probably never hear anyone talking abotu the value of their health insurance, vision coverage, dental insurance, vacation time, sick time, flexible schedules, or paid training benefits!

Benefits are costly for employers.  As employees, it’s a mistake to ignore their dollar value when you are evaluating your compensation package.  Most people think they don’t make enough money- but look beyond your salary because if you didn’t have the benefits you receive from your employment, your salary would be worth a lot less! Paying for your health care, vision, and dental work would eat an even bigger chunk of your salary if you didn’t have benefits- and you wouldn’t receive a dime if you decided to take your annual two-week vacation.

Time off: If you earn $50,000 a year and get 3 weeks (15 days) of vacation, your time off is worth $2,885.  If you also get another 5 days of sick time each year, worth $962, your total time off is almost worth $3,850.

Health Insurance: In 2007, the average annual premium for family coverage was $12,106.  Average employees would pay $3,281 towards that cost- which means the other $8,825 was paid by your employer.

 Not considering dental or vision plans, life insurance, retirement plan contributions or other benefits like discounted or free health clubs and ongoing training opportunities- a $50,000 salary including time off and health benefits is already worth $62,500 if you add in the amount your employer pays for your family insurance plan and your time off.  If you tried to put a dollar amount on the other benefits- you might find that your benefits are worth as much- if not more- what you receive as a salary.

How Much Are Your Benefits Worth? was created by and is property of American Consumer News.