A. Social Security has been around for a long time and many people (including me

Question

A. Social Security has been around for a long time and many people (including me) are receiving benefits. However, it has been said that your generation may never see Social Security Benefits. what can be done to ensure that Social Security doesn't go bankrupt before your generation reaches retirement age? Should we extend the retirement age at which you can receive benefits? B. I mentioned that legally required benefits are taken for granted and discretionary benefits are also expected. Is there an entitlement mentality in the workplace today? Is this a good or bad thing? C. How have legally required benefits contributed to an employee entitlement mentality regarding benefit offerings?

Explanation / Answer

A. As the social security benefits are funded by the taxes paid by the workers, the only method available to ensure social security benefits is to arrange the necessary funds through changing the tax structures. Increasing the payroll taxes may help to ensure necessary fund as the employees are paid heavily in the current generation. The amount is used to ensure better future of the employees by ensuring necessary funds to continue the social security benefits and hence the employees would cooperate with the tax changes if they are educated on the consequences of exhausted funds. Raising the cap on the payroll tax would help to collect the required fund to maintain the social security because average earners pay the correct tax but the higher earners make benefit of the cap by stop paying social security taxes once they pass the cap. If the cap is increased and tax is collected based on earning, the higher earners will have to pay more according to their income and this will ensure necessary funds to maintain the benefits as the income of higher earners in growing rapidly in current generation.

In my opinion extending the retirement age would not help as the productivity of the workforce would decrease with the age and when the productivity decreases it will affect the company profits and the worker compensation. It will negatively impact the social security funds as the availability of fund depends on the payroll taxes.

B. Yes, there is an entitlement mentality in the workplace today. Though many of the benefits including paid vacations and pension plans are not required to be legally provided by the employer, they are forced to provide those benefits due to competition in the job market. Employees assume those benefits as their employment rights and negotiate for more benefits. The entitlement mentality is bad in my opinion as it costs much for the companies and small companies cannot afford the cost of those benefits. The mentality may also lead to dissatisfaction among the employees if they do not receive the benefits that they assume to be entitled.

C. The combination of legally required benefits and discretionary benefits has created confusion among the workers which has led to the establishment of entitlement mentality when the benefits are provided without considering any other factors like performance. The employees think that most of the benefits provided by employer including pension plans and paid vacation are legally required when they are actually not. The entitlement mentality aroused due to the prevalence of legally required benefits has resulted into many legal suits where employees sue the employer for availing the benefit when not provided by the employer.

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