5 Family Benefits All Companies Should Provide!
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Achieving that perfect balance between work and family is something everybody struggles with on a day to day basis. Juggling between your work responsibilities and your family can be daunting, especially when stressful situations seem to arise almost every day.
But, here’s the thing: when employees have a great work situation, it reflects in their family life and vice versa. Additionally, employees that feel they’re in control of their work and family responsibilities perform better and can separate any job-related issues from home problems, allowing them to be more productive.
With that in mind, here are a few ways employers can help their workers attain work-life balance.
- Paid Parental Leave
It’s one thing to have well-thought paid maternity leave policies (as most companies do) and an entirely different thing to also provide paid paternity leave. Companies should aim to provide both so that they can support their employees not only in the work environment but outside the office too.
If you want to help your employees achieve the perfect work-life balance, you should offer them different forms of paid family-related leaves, such as maternity and paternity leave or medical leave. By giving your employees the possibility to leave in case of a family emergency or if they or their spouse are with child, they will become more satisfied with the work conditions and, thus, more productive.
- Schedule Flexibility
Schedule flexibility has slowly become one of the most sought after employee benefits. With families that have both parents working a full-time job, it can get pretty difficult for them to find a balance between work and personal life. So, flexibility is crucial because it allows them to do their jobs, but at their pace, outside of the classic 9 to 5 schedule.
If you worry about how HR could manage attendance, there are now many solutions that help them track the time of their employees. Time and assistance software, for example, would enable employees to take control of their schedule, taking the burden off your HR departments.
- At Work Child Care
When you’re a parent, you don’t stop being one just because you’re at work. Your duty as a parent is never put on hold and never takes a break. Having the peace of mind knowing that your child is ok is a tremendous gift.
Family-friendly work environments have proven to be beneficial both for employees and employers. Babysitting, daycare services, childcare service discounts and the possibility of spending time with your children during lunch or breaks are a highly effective recruiting tools and motivators for working parents.
- Educational Assistance
It’s no secret tuition can be extremely expensive, so why not help out your employees by offering loans for their families. Tuition costs are a huge stress for some of your employees that are unable to pay their debts or struggle with it over very long periods of time.
Educational assistance or tuition reimbursements are attractive benefits, especially if your employees are struggling to get their degree while working at the same time. That can highly motivate an employee to perform better and increase their loyalty.
- Exercise Access
By now, everybody knows that regularly exercising is crucial for maintaining a healthy life. But, between your work and family life, it can be hard to find the time to hit the gym.
That is why companies that offer gym facilities or at least gym membership discounts are at a huge advantage. Not only that their employees are happy, but regular exercise can also decrease the risks of getting sick and having to take time off work.
There are many ways companies can actively help and support their employees nowadays. More and more people are seeking jobs that can offer them useful perks and benefits because salary alone is not enough anymore. What people want more than huge bonuses is a stress-free environment that allows them to reach that balance that helps them stay in control of their life.