Family-friendly employee benefits have increased in popularity and demand over the past few years. A competitive salary is no longer enough to attract and keep top talent, so employers need to offer the best employee benefits possible to stay competitive. Balancing professional and home responsibilities has only become more difficult thanks to the pandemic and inflation rate. One of the best things employers can do is adopt some family-friendly policies and offer family-friendly employee benefits. This blog will tell you what family-friendly employee benefits entail, why they are so important, and how they benefit employers. We'll also share five excellent family-friendly employee benefits that you can offer to set your company apart and keep your employees satisfied.
Note: If you are a university, business, or student organization representative and want to partner with us, visit our partnerships page.
What exactly are family-friendly benefits?
Family-friendly employee benefits are part of the non-monetary compensation that employers can give employees, much like the healthcare and dental or disability benefits that most are familiar with. These family-friendly benefits are usually in the form of company policies, programs, perks, or options available through employer partnerships designed to help employees balance work and family responsibilities and support employees through all life stages. Family-friendly employee benefits can include options for parental leave, childcare & education, elder care, and a few other options that we will discuss later in the blog.
What are common types of family-friendly employee benefits?
- Paid parental leave
- Financial advising or planning
- Childcare and support
- Flexible scheduling
- Academic planning for employee children
At BeMo, our focus is education, and through our partnerships with employers, we can offer your employees a benefits package that extends to their family members, too! If your employees have children getting ready to apply to competitive undergraduate programs, we can help with the tough admissions process by providing unlimited coaching. If your employees' children have set their sights on challenges such as medical school or law school, BeMo can save them money by helping their children get accepted. And what's in it for the employers? You can save money and increase your employee satisfaction by showing you care.
What’s in it for the employers?
Family-friendly employee benefits are not a cheap undertaking, and many employers simply do not understand how they can benefit their companies in the long run. Still, the reality is that in addition to being good for employees, working parents, and their children, most family-friendly benefits have a very high ROI for business results as well. Here are some of the ways in which these programs can benefit employers:
For modern employees, especially millennials and Gen Z workers, the top job satisfaction factors go beyond their wages. Opportunities for growth and development, work-life balance, and other non-monetary compensation such as benefits play a big role in employee satisfaction. Offering benefits that not only make it easier to manage work and family responsibilities, but also show that the company cares about the employee's general well-being can go a long way toward making sure employees are happy. You likely already know this, but happy employees are productive employees. If employee satisfaction is up, productivity and quality of work are also very likely to increase and absenteeism to decrease, which can only benefit the company's bottom line. Furthermore, a common reason for reduced performance at work is personal or family concerns. Having benefits and policies in place that support employees through those concerns or sometimes even alleviate those concerns can significantly impact an employee's performance. For example, a parent who is helping their child prepare for college applications might be distracted because they are worried about the acceptance rates, trying to find the best school for their child and teach them how to write a college essay. If that parent had access to college admissions consulting through their employee benefits, they would have a lot less to worry about, thus greatly improving their work performance.
Which family-friendly employee benefits should you offer?
There are several different types of family-friendly employee benefits that you can offer as an employer. We recommend opting for benefits that will greatly benefit your employees and their families in multiple ways and in the long run. Here are the top five family-friendly employee benefits that we recommend:
It is also important to note that parental leave goes beyond maternal leave. Many employers do not include paternal leave or adoption leave in their benefits, which means that new fathers and certain members of the LGBTQ+ community are not able to take the time off that they need.
Parental leave is an employee benefit that increases female participation in the workforce and plays an essential role in closing the gender gap. Research has shown that gender-inclusive parental leave policies can boost male involvement in the household, improve female participation in the labor force, and promote gender equity in both domains.
While these parental leave benefits have become one of the best employee benefits in Canada, it is still not very common in the United States. Having a generous parental leave policy can set you apart as an employer in the US. Not only will it help you create a more diverse workplace, but it will also help you retain some of the top talent that other companies are losing by making it hard for new parents to take that time off that they need to care for their children.
Conclusion
Offering family-friendly benefits is one of the best employee retention strategies that you can adopt in this day and age. If employees feel like you care about their overall well-being as employees and that you are willing to invest in it, they will be more satisfied with their work and compensation. They are also more likely to be loyal to the organization. It’s important to remember that both employees and employers benefit significantly from having access to services and perks that make balancing work and family responsibilities easier. So, take the time to research and learn more about unique perks like financial planning and academic consulting, as these benefits will help you stand out as a company.
FAQs
1. What are family-friendly employee benefits?
Essentially, they are benefits such as policies, programs, or perks that are designed to support employees through different stages of life by making it easier for them to balance work and family responsibilities.
2. Why are family-friendly employee benefits getting more popular?
More and more employees are finding that competitive wages are not enough to provide long-term job satisfaction. They want to have access to family-friendly work environments, development programs, and work-life balance. Employers have to provide these options if they want to recruit and retain top-notch employees.
3. How do family-friendly benefits affect the company’s Bottomline?
While the initial cost of offering family-friendly employee benefits may seem high, the ROI is solid. In the long run, companies save tons of money by increasing productivity and employee satisfaction and decreasing absenteeism and turnover.
4. Are family-friendly employee benefits designed to support women in the workplace?
While these benefits support women, they are not designed for that sole purpose. The right family-friendly benefits should benefit all workers, including women, men, and gender-nonconforming individuals.
5. What are examples of family-friendly employee benefits?
The following are examples of family-friendly employee benefits: parental leave, fertility and family building benefits, childcare, flexible hours, etc.
6. What are the best family-friendly employee benefits?
If you want to stand out as a company, you can offer some of the more unique family-friendly employee benefits such as elder care, academic consulting, and financial planning.
7. Should you offer family-friendly benefits if you have high turnover?
This will require a balance. On the one hand, offering family-friendly benefits can help increase employee satisfaction and employee retention simultaneously. On the other hand, you do not want to invest in employees who are not willing to invest in the organization. We recommend offering these benefits to employees once they are past their probation period or a different threshold.
8. How can I learn more about offering academic consulting as an employee benefit?
You can contact us directly, and a member of our team will be happy to provide additional information.