Ikke

My employer is starting discussions with me about transferring to a role at HQ in the USA - this has happened before but they seem to be serious this time

One of the big questions is salary. There are no set salaries in the company, but roles are graded and there is a salary band per grade. The band is very wide, for me ranging from something like 38k to 140k!

One item people have told me to take into account when negotiating is the different salary needed just because of the ''lifestyle'' differences between Europe and the USA. It's easy to compare things like the cost of bread, petrol or whatever, but this one is harder.

So my question is, what things do you find you spend more (or less) on in the USA compared to UK/Europe because of the lifestyle (not sure what that means myself ). The only examples I can think of are perhaps people spend more on eating out or on communications (Cable, Telephones etc).

Whilst I am not living in UK now, I can compare the cost of living to my current location to say Manchester or Glasgow rather than London.

Any ideas/experiences gratefully received.

Bob

Depends where you are in the states don't it...

But you'll spend more on taxes and everything to begin with because you won't have a credit history pretty much.

Manc

go for the $140k

AdobePinon

Medical bills are HUGE! Even if your employer covers medical insurance, you'll want to factor in a difference for this. Also dental and vision.

Plus, you're very likely to put a lot more miles on your car in a lot fewer years, so even though the gas is cheap you might end up spending quite a bit. Which reminds me, car insurance will be through the roof when you first get here.

Lifestyle? Dunno. I should have negotiated a 'ski gear' bonus into my contract, though.

AdobePinon

plus 15%. You letting your standards go to crap, are you?

NC Penguin

Some resources I'd like to suggest.

The Mercer group produce Cost of Living reports for pretty much any country in the world. These can be customized to locations within a country too. Maybe your employer already subscribes to them or some other similar service. The HR department would be the ones to ask.

On the other hand, you may find it helpful to look at www.salary.com and search for the job description that best fits what you will be doing. You can narrow it down by location to find the salary that approximates.

Also, the US Dept. of Labor website may have information on salaries and what is typical for the job you'll be doing in that particular location.




NC Penguin

Bob

tell me about it, my eyeballs, without insurance would have been $455 for prescription lenses, a new set of frames with tinted lenses for those, plus cost of eye test...only had to spend $123 out of pocket cos of insurance

snorkmaiden

Depending on what part of the country you will be moving to - expect to pay more for utility bills because of air conditioning. Last year I found myself paying over $400 per month for Electricity and I was paying 70 quid per month for gas and electricity in the UK. Obviously my house here is bigger - about 2400 sq ft as opposed to 900 sq ft at home - but of course we don't tend to need too much in the way of air con in the summer back home (also I'm at home with children in the day so need to keep the a/c running all the time)

Also, as others have pointed out, medical and dental care and opticians - particularly if you have children. Two of my children wear glasses. They are free in the UK until they are 16 and are every bit as good and fashionable as the ones here I have to pay around $200 for and that's with the vision allowance that comes with our medical insurance.

Taking one of your kids to the emergency room after a fall can wind up costing you loads of cash, even with the insurance.

Ikke

Thanks, you are all confirming things I was thinking - which means I am on the right track. I have spent quite a lot of time over there, including 'self catering' business trips for a month, but it's still not the same as day to day life.

I know that income tax and SS will be lower (currently pay 50%) but that there wont be the safety net that we have here. Plus I have seen the threads about car insurance which are scary - thought it was bad enough here, when I first moved to Belgium I was paying the same for basic insurance on an old BMW as I was fully comp on a new Audi A4 in England! - it's gone down over the years and now pay about 50€ per month on a small Punto but still not full insurance.

The company in the US does provide health insurance, and I have read the details but have nothing to compare it to except experiences in UK, Australia and here.

Big difference will be in leave time too - think there I will get 20 days a year for annual leave and sick leave whereas here I get 26 days, about 12 public holidays and unlimited sick leave (hope I dont need it but you never know).

Got the initial conversation in five minutes, so will see where that part of the chat goes.

Ikke

$400 per month???? :scared: and I think I am being ripped off now!!!

Ikke

That's what I am doing (I wish)

Eskimo

We pay $400 a month as well in CA during the summer. !1

Ikke I made some mistakes in my salary negoitiation - it sounded like a lot of cash at a 20% increase on my UK salary (at an exchange rate at the time of 1.70). I thought well better tax, cheaper living etc but was so wrong - agree with other posters its on where you live and we live in LA but I estimate us to be about 10% a month worse off even with a 20% salary increase.
The major factors you have heard before are car insurance ($4k per annum and no company car) , house insurance ($2k), ALL utilities (easily $8k per year plus) , grocery shopping, the cost of medical/dental ($400 per month and I am in a good employer scheme) property tax here is 8K per year and city tax another $4k and although we have bought a house 4 times the size even with an employer contribution of 5% interest we still doubled our mortage payments... oh and 15 days holiday versus 25 !
I have actually renegotiated my salary this week and am waiting on a reply but when I laid it out to the company they could not put up a good arguement

By the way we love it here and have no regrets its just not the land of milk and honey people think - good luck

NC Penguin

Here's a Dept. of Labor webpage that you'll probably find helpful. It's broken down by state and then city/metropolitan area and then by major groups (as defined by DOL).

http://www.bls.gov/oes/2003/may/oessrcma.htm




NC Penguin

Eskimo

rathering worryingly I am classed as very well paid

NC Penguin

Sounds like you'd better be on your toes during negotiations then...




NC Penguin