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But if you have a company doctor, then you have no medical privacy, since everybody knows that you are seeing the doctor.
You do not have to see that doctor but it is way more convenient to go to the doc on campus than try and get to my regular doctor. I do not have a problem with my coworkers knowing I am going to the doctors. No one ever asks why. We have a completely different health office for all work related issues.
I once interviewed at a company that gave every employee his or her birthday off. If it was Saturday or Sunday or already a holiday, you got to choose an alternate day.
That might be great if you are single. But I'd rather have dinner with my wife that with my coworkers.
I'm happy that the company has a casual dress code, and I don't have to worry about dry cleaning.
I actually have dinner at home most days as well but I like that it's there in case I do decide to stay later. The works hours are also relatively flexible so those who stay for dinner tend to come in a little later (e.g. 10am-6:30pm so they skip breakfast at work but have lunch + dinner at work and go home vs. 9am-5:30 which go home for dinner but have breakfast + lunch at work). I tend to come in at around 8:30-9am.
We also have a casual dress code so shorts and t-shirts with sneakers are good.
Oh, I'm very aware of that ... I was in the "real world" for many years before going into academia. My corporate employer had a 6/3 401(k) plan -- I put in 6%, they matched 3%. That seemed to be pretty typical back them (late '80s, early '90s). I was astonished by the matches I saw in academia.
I think the idea is that academic salaries CAN lag far beyond "real-world" salaries, so good benefits (and things like sabbaticals) are supposed to make up for the allegedly lower salaries. Given that my own background is about as working-class as you can get, I don't see academic salaries (in higher ed.) as being particularly low -- especially given the "time off" (which isn't really "time off," but you work COMPLETELY on your own schedule for many months out of the year so it definitely doesn't feel like a typical corporate job) and the benefits (like the retirement plan). Most of my colleagues, though, are from at least middle-class backgrounds (usually upper-middle-class or better) and to them, academic salaries are low -- but they put up with them for the great benefits.
But my point is that the plum government jobs are almost impossible to get, no matter how qualified you are, unless you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. They are basically the equivalent of winning the lottery. People on this board often tell people to get a government job, but that's not an option for most of us. I am basically trapped in a corporate world where I don't fit in at all. What I want is job security, the ability to eventually retire, and work-life balance. The private sector offers none of those.
Some years ago, I worked dispatching emergency road service; since my personal "wheels" were in pretty poor shape at the time, being able to get a ride into the office with a company tow truck came in handy on a few occasions.
Would you say it is more for tenure or tenure track? I was under the impression that 25% do not make tenure. I had a debate years ago with someone that illustrated that there were some institutions that pretty much handed tenure without being that competitive. Of course the institution could be utter crap.
Where I've worked, tenure-track faculty have the same benefits as tenured faculty, but their pay is much lower. Beginning salaries in academia aren't great (given the credentials required), but for me, having grown up working-class, job security is MUCH more important to me than just about anything else. It is amazing to know that unless I seriously screw up on the job (which is under my control of course!), I cannot lose my job.
The number of academics who become tenured varies tremendously from institution to institution. At many institutions, you don't even make it to the tenure REVIEW if it becomes clear beforehand that you likely will not get tenure -- you are fired (or sometimes choose to leave) before that point. When I was in grad school at Michigan, there were a few tenure-track professors who came for only a couple of years, then left. At that kind of institution, the pressure is incredibly intense in your first several years -- but once you get tenure, IF you do, then you can breathe a little.
[Not sure I answered your question, as I'm not sure what "it" refers to in the question "Would you say it is more for tenure or tenure track?" It's relatively unusual to get a TENURED job in academia -- which is why you try (if you can) to make sure your first job is somewhere you'd want to stay (not much movement in academia -- far, far less than in the corporate world). The academic job market is so competitive, though, that often you have no choice -- you go wherever you get an offer. Honestly, I would hate to be on the academic job market these days -- with the increasing use of poorly-paid, non-benefited adjuncts, there are fewer and fewer tenure-track openings.]
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