On February 9, LIM’s Office of Career and Internship Services hosted the first event in a new series called Senior Success: Life After LIM.
Thomas J. Giangrande (’18), Associate Manager of Benefits and Payroll at Moët Hennessy, met with students to provide them with practical information about employee compensation and benefits.
Said Giangrande, "The purpose of this presentation was to provide an overview of the fundamentals of compensation and benefits. Understanding how benefits work and what they mean are important for a sustainable and successful start to your career path."
Giangrande is also an adjunct faculty member at LIM College. Among the specific topics covered were health insurance, the differences between Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Spending Accounts, Paid Time Off, and more.
“These are things that [as students] we speak about, we know of briefly, but we don’t have a full understanding of what it necessarily means for us,” Giangrande said.
A topic of particular interest was transportation-related benefits, as many LIM students commute to Manhattan from within the tri-state area.
“Things like the Long Island Rail, New Jersey Transit, Metro North, can all be considered as potential transit options you can use in a commuter benefit program,” Giangrande noted. “It is a pretty popular benefit. A lot of companies offer this, so it's something to look out for when you are applying for jobs.”
Retirement planning, including 401(k)s and IRA, accounts also came up. Said Giangrande, “Putting [money] towards your retirement goals is one of the most important things that as younger people, we don’t necessarily consider.”
Giangrande concluded, “There is a big drive within the employer space to provide comprehensive and competitive benefits for employees, and employees are starting to become more aware of what benefits and perks they should be expecting.”
