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Comment by grecy | Hacker News Reader

For the people that want the childcare, it’s better than more money, because it’s tax free

It's better for the company - they can pay less and the employee gets the same equivalent amount in their pocket.

E.g. if the company were going to pay $2k extra but it would be taxed $1k, they would have to pay $3k to get the equivalent "happiness" boost. The employee gets $2k / year either way.

$2k tax free -> $2k in your pocket

$3k + $1k tax -> $2k in your pocket

In the USA, you can get up to $5k or so without tax (it’s your money, but you can spend from a tax free account) to fund child care, which works out to almost half for one kid in a HCOL.

I suppose that depends on location. In the UK, it would count as a benefit in kind, and is taxable in exactly same way as regular income.

depends on the form, amount and also income: https://www.litrg.org.uk/benefits/childcare/employer-support...

workplace nurseries are tax free as is any child care for lower incomes. other benefits are tax free up to a certain amount.

Can company provide a choice for employees where they can either get facilities or a raise?

IANAL, but I'll bet the answer is "yes-ish, in most-ish circumstances and jurisdictions, if the company is willing to pay enough lawyers & taxes & stuff.

(If $Company is not big global retailer like IKEA, then things would probably be far simpler.)

In the US, and presumably elsewhere, no way. My wife tried to negotiate a higher salary in exchange for forgoing health insurance a few times, to no avail.

Individually it usually doesn't work unless you're at a level where there is "only one of you" - think C-level exec.

But collectively it can work; the company may talk to the union and offer either X benefit which costs $Y or $Y applied to salaries.

It won't save as much as you might expect, though, because the insurance provider also knows that the people opting out of the scheme would have (on average) cost the provider less to provide healthcare for.

I’m pretty sure it isn’t up to the company, they have to provide health insurance if certain criteria are met, it doesn’t matter if your partner already has health insurance.

> In the US, and presumably elsewhere

In every other developed country everyone has healthcare, irrelevant of job - even people that don't have a job.

Healthcare is not tied to your job, it is a basic human right.

So this discussion makes no sense outside the US.

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