Employment is a contractual relationship: Whether or not there is a written contract in place, there is an agreement from one party (the employee) to enter into the other party’s service, in return for consideration (material rewards). Those material rewards take the form of financial compensation, as well as employee benefits. We might see employee benefits as all consideration that is not received directly in a monetary sum. This might include, for example: health, life, disability and unemployment insurance workers compensation pension schemes paid vacation fringe benefits (such as use of a company car) sick leave.