Every country has a system of social protection to help people when risks, contingencies, and needs arise. In each society this system is organized in three sections: a public sector, a personal sector, and a mixed sector. Each society combines these sectors in different ways. Here, the firm's social policy within the broader context of social protection in society as a whole is examined. Employer-related benefits, which comprise the social policy of the firm are analyzed and include voluntary and union contracted programs, those that are legally mandated by the state but paid for by the employer, and other activities of a social nature. A review of theories that try to account for why firms incur social costs is presented. The role of the firm within the system of social protection for society as a whole is then located. Finally, the empirical section covers three issues: the level of spending and growth of the firm's provision of social benefits; the components of voluntary and contractual benefits provided by the firm; and the distributional effects of firm-based social policy by skill mix, firm size, and industrial sector. Based on this information, the future of employer-related benefits is considered. (Nine tables and 25 footnotes are included.) (KM)