| Course | HR435 Total Rewards and Compensation Strategy |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 9 |
| Paper type | Benefits cost analysis |
| Length | About 960 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | BS in Business Administration (Human Resources) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HR435 Unit 9
Two Answers to What a Benefit Costs: A Unit 9 Benefits Cost Analysis for a Pest Control Company
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HR435: Total Rewards and Compensation Strategy
Unit 9 Benefits Cost Analysis
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
Ironweed Pest Services, its enrollment, rates and every figure are composite and illustrative; the statutes, survey and sources cited are real, and tax rates are the federal rates in effect for 2025.
Method
Every figure below is built from a quantity, a rate and a base, so any reader can rebuild it. Quantities come from January enrollment and payroll records. Rates come from the plan's renewal, the insurers' invoices and the federal tax rates in effect. Statutory costs, which the company must pay, are kept apart from discretionary ones, which it chose and could redesign. Milkovich et al. (2020) recommend that separation because a leadership team can change only the second group.
Health Coverage
Of 260 employees, 214 enroll in the medical plan.
Employee only. 118 enrollees at an annual premium of $8,640, with Ironweed paying 80 percent, or $6,912 each, for $815,616.
Employee plus one. 58 enrollees at $17,280, with Ironweed paying 70 percent, or $12,096 each, for $701,568.
Family. 38 enrollees at $24,960, with Ironweed paying 70 percent, or $17,472 each, for $663,936.
The employer's health cost is $2,181,120. For comparison, the KFF (2024) employer survey put the average single premium just under $9,000 and the average family premium near $25,600, so Ironweed's premiums run a little under those national figures.
The Denominator Question
The same $2,181,120 produces two different per-person figures. Spread across all 260 employees, health coverage costs $8,389 per employee. Spread across the 214 who enroll, it costs $10,192 per enrollee. The gap is $1,803.
Both figures are correct, and they answer different questions. Per employee is the right figure for comparing total compensation across companies or building a total rewards statement for the workforce as a whole. Per enrollee is the right figure for pricing what coverage costs the company for each person who takes it, which matters when deciding whether to raise the employee contribution or add a lower-cost plan. An analysis that reports only one of them invites someone to use it for the wrong question.
The health plan does not cost $8,389 or $10,192; it costs $2,181,120, and each per-person figure is that total divided by a different answer to who counts.
Retirement Match
Each dollar an employee defers is matched by Ironweed, to a ceiling of 4 percent of salary. Seventy percent of employees participate, and the average matched deferral is 3.6 percent of pay. The cost is $14,196,000 times 0.70 times 0.036, or $357,739.
Statutory Costs
Social Security and Medicare. The employer pays 6.2 percent for Social Security and 1.45 percent for Medicare, 7.65 percent in total (Federal Insurance Contributions Act, 2018). For 2025, Social Security tax stops at $176,100 of a worker's wages (Internal Revenue Service, 2025); nobody at Ironweed is paid that much, so all $14,196,000 is taxed at the combined rate: $1,085,994.
Federal unemployment. The statute sets 6.0 percent on a person's wages up to $7,000 a year (Federal Unemployment Tax Act, 2018), and timely state unemployment payments earn a credit that can reach 5.4 points, leaving 0.6 percent in Ironweed's state. On 260 employees that is $42 each, or $10,920.
State unemployment. Ironweed's assigned rate is 2.1 percent on a state wage base of $25,000, or $525 per employee and $136,500 in total.
Workers' compensation. Rates differ by job class. Field payroll of $9,100,000 is rated at $2.60 per $100 of payroll, for $236,600. Office payroll of $5,096,000 is rated at $0.25 per $100, for $12,740. The total is $249,340. Field rates are high because technicians climb into attics and crawlspaces and handle restricted-use products every working day.
Life and Disability Insurance
Basic life and short-term disability coverage costs $14.50 per employee per month, or $174 a year for 260 employees: $45,240.
The Total
Health coverage: $2,181,120, or $8,389 per employee.
Retirement match: $357,739, or $1,376.
Social Security and Medicare: $1,085,994, or $4,177.
Federal and state unemployment: $147,420, or $567.
Workers' compensation: $249,340, or $959.
Life and disability: $45,240, or $174.
The total is $4,066,853, or $15,642 per employee, which is 28.6 percent of base pay. Statutory costs, payroll taxes, unemployment and workers' compensation, make up $1,482,754 of it. The discretionary programs, health, retirement and insurance, make up $2,584,099, and those are the only ones leadership can redesign.
Paid Time Off
Ironweed grants 120 hours of paid time off a year. At an average hourly rate of $26.25, that is $3,150 per employee and $819,000 in total. It is shown here but not added to the total, because those hours are already paid inside base pay. Adding them would count the same dollars twice. The figure still matters, because it tells leadership what an extra forty hours of paid time off would cost if granted: about $273,000.
A Renewal Scenario
The health plan's carrier has signaled an increase at the next renewal. At 8 percent, holding the contribution split and enrollment constant, the employer's health cost rises by $174,490, or $671 per employee. That increase arrives before any merit increase is paid, and it equals more than a third of the $486,500 merit budget in Unit 6. Leadership should see the two numbers side by side when the budget is set, because a renewal of that size is a pay decision even when nobody calls it one.
Limits
Enrollment counts are a January snapshot and will move during the year. Workers' compensation rates depend on the experience modifier at the next policy period. The KFF figures are national averages across firm sizes and regions and are offered as context only.
References
Federal Insurance Contributions Act, 26 U.S.C. § 3111 (2018).
Federal Unemployment Tax Act, 26 U.S.C. § 3301 (2018).
Internal Revenue Service. (2025). Publication 15 (Circular E), Employer's tax guide. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf
KFF. (2024). 2024 Employer health benefits survey. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/report/2024-employer-health-benefits-survey/
Milkovich, G. T., Newman, J. M., & Gerhart, B. (2020). Compensation (13th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Reading the HR 435 Unit 9 instructions
Unit 9 asks you to calculate the employer's cost of a benefits package and explain what the figures mean for decisions. Every number should rest on a quantity, a rate and a base that a reader could check. Cost the health plan by coverage tier, the retirement contribution from participation and deferral rates, and each statutory cost from the rate and wage base that applies. Present the results in one summary with totals per employee and as a percentage of payroll. The prompt then expects interpretation: separate costs the company is required to pay from those it chose, since only the second group can be redesigned, and explain any figure that could be reported more than one way. Paid time off needs a decision about whether it belongs in the total, with a reason. A forward-looking scenario, such as a premium renewal, shows how the package will change before anyone receives a raise.
Inside the HR435 Unit 9 example
The analysis begins with a method paragraph citing Milkovich and colleagues on separating statutory from discretionary costs. Health coverage is costed across three tiers, with the employer paying 80 percent of a $8,640 single premium and 70 percent of the higher tiers, and the premiums are compared with the national averages KFF reported for 2024. A denominator section explains why $8,389 and $10,192 are both right, and the highlighted line returns the reader to the plan's total. The match is computed as payroll times 70 percent participation times a 3.6 percent average deferral. Statutory costs cite the federal payroll tax and unemployment statutes and the IRS employer's guide for the 2025 wage base, with workers' compensation rated separately for field and office payroll. The summary splits $1,482,754 statutory from $2,584,099 discretionary. Paid time off and an 8 percent renewal, worth $174,490, close the analysis.
HR435 Unit 9 rubric: what earns full points
The HR435 benefits analysis is graded heavily on accuracy, since a leadership team would act on these figures. Each program's cost needs a visible calculation, and the summary must reconcile with the sections above it. Points are lost for applying the wrong payroll tax rates, ignoring the federal unemployment credit, or costing health coverage at full premium rather than the employer's share. Interpretation carries the rest of the grade: explaining the per-employee and per-enrollee figures, separating statutory from discretionary costs, and handling paid time off without double counting. A renewal scenario that relates benefit growth to the merit budget shows strategic thinking. Statutory references, the survey used for comparison and the compensation text should be cited in APA 7, and any figure taken from a case file should be labeled as such. A clean summary that a reader can scan in one look is worth the space it takes.
Common HR435 Unit 9 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Benefits cost papers often add paid time off to the total, counting wages already paid in base pay a second time. Others compute federal unemployment at 6.0 percent of all wages instead of the effective rate on the first $7,000. A third mistake is reporting one per-person health figure without saying whose heads are in the denominator, which can mislead a reader comparing companies. Some students list costs without separating the ones the company must pay, so leadership cannot see what is actually open to redesign. Watch the retirement match: it depends on how many employees participate and how much they defer, not on the maximum match rate alone. Keep the statutory rates tied to the year you cite. If your case uses a different state or a self-funded health plan, share the enrollment and rate figures and we can help you rebuild the summary.
Get an HR435 Unit 9 example written to your instructions
Supply the enrollment counts, premiums, contribution rates and payroll figures in the Unit 9 case, with the rubric. The sample shows quantity, rate and base for every program, both denominators, and the load against base pay, delivered in 24-48h with every assumption labeled. A first analysis carries no fee. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HR435 Unit 9 questions, answered
Why is paid time off not added to the benefits total?
Because the hours are already paid through base salary or wages, so adding them again double-counts the cost. The example reports paid time off separately, as the value of time not worked, $3,150 per employee, which is useful for a total rewards statement but not an additional cash outlay unless the absence is backfilled with overtime or temporary staff.
Why assume everyone is under the Social Security wage base?
Because in this composite company, average base pay of $54,600 sits well below the wage base, and the few higher earners would change the total only slightly. The example states the assumption. If your case includes executives or highly paid staff, compute the Social Security portion on earnings up to the base and Medicare on all earnings.
Where can I find a free HR435 Unit 9 sample paper?
This page holds a full HR435 Unit 9 benefits cost analysis for a composite pest control company, costing health, retirement, payroll taxes and insurance program by program, with margin notes.
Why are there two per-person health figures?
The same $2,181,120 is divided either by all 260 employees, giving $8,389, or by the 214 who enroll, giving $10,192. The first suits total compensation comparisons; the second shows what coverage costs for each person who takes it.
How much of the total can leadership change?
About $2,584,099, the health plan, retirement match and life and disability coverage. The other $1,482,754, payroll taxes, unemployment taxes and workers' compensation, is required by law and can be managed only at the edges.