
VMware Freezing Pay, Stopping 401k Match - boulos
https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-salaries-freeze-pay-cut-executive-pay-2020-5
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subhobroto
I really wish all of us just stopped this 401k, HSA, Health Insurance drama
through one's employer and just got to contribute it directly while enjoying
the same tax protected status.

For example, if:

\- 401k contributions through one's employer is exempt from payroll taxes, let
the employee open their own 401k directly, at a custodian brokerage of their
own choosing and contribute to it while maintaining/enjoying the exempt
status. Even better is if they could contribute it directly into the same
brokerage where they maintain their IRA. My 401k providers have been lousy -
their primary aim seemed to be to line their own pockets first. Voya wanted
hundreds of dollars to roll over from their 401k to my IRA forcing me to
withdraw and wouldn't even wire the funds: forcing me to accept a check
instead, which is a terrible headache given existing regulation.

\- HSA contributions through one's employer is exempt from payroll taxes, let
the employee open their own HSA directly and contribute to it while
maintaining/enjoying the exempt status. I have had a mixed bag of HSA
accounts. One employer did not care where I had my HSA - they just wanted the
ACH information. Another wanted me to funnel my funds to their specific lousy
HSA

\- The monthly $2k Health Insurance premiums that my employer "pays on my
behalf" \- I get to route that to a plan of my own choosing while getting the
same tax exempt status. That way I get to keep and maintain my doctors and
labs in network FOREVER even as my employers change (or I retire). Compare
that to one employer forcing me to change from my beloved plan at kaiser
permanente to a lousy Anthem plan because costs had gone up. Anthem was a
bloody disaster and I would have been happy to pay a premium for my previous
kaiser permanente plan but because of this nonsense we have, I didn't even
have that choice. The employer would not even credit me the premiums after I
wanted to purchase my own plan from the exchange which was way better than
what was offered. I had to leave that job just to get away from Anthem!

All this pseudo retirement and benefits game is nonsense - employers find it a
distraction and do an extremely poor job at best or actively hurt the employee
by removing these when the employee actually needs them the most (like right
now!).

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Ididntdothis
Totally agree. Every employee should be getting the same tax benefits and be
able to make the same decisions independently of employer It’s ridiculous that
employers have a say in this.

~~~
subhobroto
Thank you!

As employees, how can we take action so this becomes the norm?

The current setup feels so abnormal and against good reason

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mav3rick
Post war companies touted health insurance as an extra perk to attract
employees. Since then it's only entrenched itself.

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vardump
Weird, the linked page mistakenly claims I'm using an ad-blocker! Browser:
newest Chrome without add-ons, macOS.

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londons_explore
Chrome now has an ad blocker built in. Apparently it only blocks the worst ads
as decided by Google. Can't see any way that's fair or legal, but C'est la
vie!

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l1ghthouse
[http://archive.is/HnjlV](http://archive.is/HnjlV)

~~~
ubrpwnzr
Thanks +1

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vaxman
How’s that outsourcing desktop apps to Shanghai, Photon Orchestration instead
of K8s, openStack and then AWS integration working out for ya? Should have
sold to Oracle. Buh-bye

