Employee Benefits
For New Employees
Fringe benefits make up an important part of compensation for most employees. To make the most of your benefit opportunities, you need to know:
- what benefits are available to you and how they interact
- how and when to enroll
What's in my benefit package?
Benefits vary according to your employee group. If you are not certain where you fit in, read the descriptions on this page to find your employee group. Follow the appropriate link for a list of available benefit programs and important enrollment deadline information for new employees of your type.
If you not a new University employee, go to the Life Events page for information about how to change your benefits in response to new personal and job situations. For more in-depth information about a specific program, follow the topic links at the top of this page.
View a slide show presentation about the benefits available to you:
Classified and Unclassified employees covered under the Wisconsin Retirement System. This includes classified permanent, project and LTE employees and unclassified faculty, academic staff and limited employees.
OR
Graduate assistant and short-term academic staff employees
Permanent or long-term employees with retirement coverage: This group includes most university employees, both unclassified -- university executives, deans and directors, faculty, and academic staff -- and classified, who are:
- Appointed to work at least one-third of full-time and
- Expected to work for at least one year
For unclassified staff, one-third of full-time means 440 hours per year. This is equivalent to a 28% appointment for a nine-month employees or a 21% appointment for twelve-month employees. For classified staff, one-third of full-time means 600 hours per year, or a 29% appointment. This group of employees is covered under the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) and are eligible for all WRS-related benefits.
Short-term academic employees and graduate and post-graduate employees: This group includes appointees at the graduate level and beyond, as well as visiting faculty and other short-term teaching and research staff. Undergrad Assistants and Undergrad Interns are also included. This group of employees is covered under the Graduate Assistant benefits package.
Fellows, Employees-in-training and similar titles: Members of this group are graduate and post-graduate appointees who work independently as a part of their professional training. They receive stipends or awards rather than salaries. Though technically not employees, they are eligible for some benefits within the Graduate Assistant benefits package.
Limited Term Employees (LTEs): This group includes employees appointed to fill classified positions that are temporary or temporarily vacant, or on an emergency basis
Student hourly employees: This group includes students who are hired to provide support services to campus departments, libraries, food services, etc., and who are paid on an hourly basis.
This document was last revised on February 3, 2009
