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The Cornell Experience: Benefits, Pay, and Time Away from Work

Cornell offers very competitive hourly wage and salary programs and a wide array of employee benefit programs to attract and retain quality faculty and staff members.

At Cornell, we understand the importance of providing employee benefit programs as a prominent component of total compensation. Employers can offer group purchase advantages over the private or personal market, and we leverage our purchasing power to keep the costs of our plans down while maintaining excellent quality of care and service. We can also help you take advantage of tax laws that favor participation in employer-sponsored programs. In addition, Cornell pays part of the premium for many coverage options to keep the plans affordable. (More on Cornell's benefits»)

We also understand that staff and faculty need support to help meet personal and family obligations. We offer eleven paid staff holidays, including six consecutive Winter Break days at the end of the calendar year. Our Time Away from Work policy outlines the paid holiday, vacation, sick, personal, and family health days that staff may take, as well as a number of other leaves, including a generous family leave policy for staff. (More on Cornell employment and time away from work»)

Cornell University recognizes that faculty and academic staff share its commitment to providing students with a top-quality educational experience and to furthering our tradition of world-class research and service. In some fundamental ways, the needs and timing of a highly active academic career may conflict with those of parenting. While Cornell cannot eliminate those conflicts, university leaders are committed to a culture and policies supportive of faculty and academic staff when the responsibilities of family life are particularly demanding. As part of that commitment, the university provides Cornell Academic Parental Leave for faculty, librarians, researchers, and other academic staff, including provisions, where applicable, for automatic extension of the tenure clock. (More on policies of interest to academic staff and faculty»)

Together, Cornell's benefit programs, wage and salary policies and time away from work policies provide you with the opportunity to choose appropriate benefits coverage for you and your family, as well as balance the responsibilities of both your work and and your personal life. (More on balancing work and personal life»).

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your hiring supervisor, your department's human resource office. Our experienced staff are ready to assist you in any way we can, even before you join the Cornell community.