Family-Focused Work Perks and Their Impact on Employee Loyalty

The secret to unlocking the best performance of your talented team isn’t quite a secret. To attract and retain the best and brightest talent, look no further than your own human resources employee benefits package.

During the workday, your teams are committed to helping your organization achieve its mission and goals. And while new employees might base their decision to join the company on base pay and benefits, their decision to stay and continue to be productive is more nuanced.

Companies that recognize, honor, and support their team’s lives and needs outside of work have an edge. Learn how family-oriented employee perks and discount programs build emotional loyalty, show respect for work-life balance, and differentiate your brand.

What Are Family-Focused Perks?

The definition of family doesn’t mean the nuclear, stereotypical household when it comes to work perks. Benefits that support your employees’ financial, emotional, and flexibility needs allow them to be present for their people.

As such, a quality employee discount or wellness program, such as those for lifestyle or entertainment, helps enhance the employee experience and allows your employees’ income to go further; all of which present more opportunities to enjoy during their downtime. Employee rates for amusement parks, travel, and memberships increase the value of their employment and keep employee satisfaction higher year-round.

Meeting the Needs of Modern Families

Family-focused perks that directly support their family care needs convey empathy, respect, and awareness of family demands. Discounted childcare helps parents manage the expense of caring for young children while working.

A growing family dynamic is the “sandwich generation,” where adults are caring for both aging parents and minor children. Employee perks like discounted adult day care, caregiver resources, and counseling help workers navigate this demanding role. And while you might be supporting their individual needs, it can benefit your employee retention efforts in return.

Creating an Authentic Emotional Connection with an Employer

Companies are made up of people, but some organizations feel more robotic than human. Collaborate with your people leaders to learn about the real experiences of their teams. Elevate your employee culture initiatives to help improve opportunities to connect across teams and better understand their lives.

Ask for employee feedback in your company culture surveys to learn what needs they may have outside of work. Take these findings to your benefits group to determine ways you can support colleagues outside of work.

Discount programs can ease financial stressors that could otherwise make employees seek alternate employment. Promote your program regularly, make it accessible, and showcase its use to encourage utilization. When your employee perks program makes family life easier, employees feel grateful to work for an organization that cares.

Gain an Advantage in Your Recruitment and Retention Strategy

Your company does great work, but a potential employee isn’t invested in your mission. A job-seeker is looking at the tangible benefits an opportunity offers, and your family-focused perks can be a major attractor. Be it a gym membership or wellness benefit, you'll increase job satisfaction amongst your team members and help employee morale and professional development flourish.

Employees value family benefits so much that three-quarters would leave their current role for better benefits. Meet this need through your program and promote it throughout your recruitment strategy. Make it easy to find, understand, and view real-life examples of it in use.

Showcase employee benefit utilization on your blog and social media. Interview employees on camera and incorporate their benefits experience in your recruitment videos. Doing so showcases the opportunities that employment provides and confirms your supportive, family-friendly culture.

Keep Programs Practical and Accessible

If expanding your benefits offering seems daunting, start slow and assess its effectiveness. Small perks, like discounts on local family attractions, restaurants, and school supplies, can be the most valuable.

These offers are more accessible and utilized due to their lower price point, location, and timeliness. Kids go back to school every year, so easing the expense of this annual event can make a big difference.

Families often make an annual trek to the amusement park or purchase a family membership to an attraction. Include these discounts in your perks and add an additional benefit that your team appreciates year-round.

Obtain a personalized link for your company perks page and make it a quick link on your intranet. Update your page to mesh with your company brand, voice, and culture initiatives.

Offer training for leaders, culture champions, and employees to learn how to navigate the site and redeem offers. Provide step-by-step guides, videos, and tutorials to make using the program accessible and enjoyable.

Align Your Perks Program with Your Culture

Reflect your company values and culture with your perks offering. If you state a family-friendly environment as one of your pillars, prove it with perks.

Many organizations extend flexible work hours to their teams, making family demands easier to manage. Financial perks like discounted summer camps, parent-and-me classes, and family experiences are more accessible in a flexible work culture.

Extend discounts for local sporting events during a company outing and on dates that work for your people. The more customization, flexibility, and variety you can provide, the better. Build a program for families of every age, size, and dynamic to ensure everyone can find perks that inspire them.

An Investment in Employee Perks Pays Dividends

Company leaders should evaluate their current employee dynamics to explore potential benefits that meet their needs. Align your additional perks offering with the awareness and sensitivity of your team’s needs and accessibility to discounted services.

Look at your financial investment in your program against potential returns on improved retention, performance, and revenue. Report insights on your program to company governance teams and boards to convey its effectiveness.

When you invest in the whole employee, you earn more than just their loyalty. Engaged employees perform better, increasing their output, identifying growth opportunities, and maintaining vigilance against threats to your organization. Teams that feel cared for and connected take ownership, serve as active brand ambassadors, and help your company thrive.