What are family-friendly benefits? Explain the common types of family-friendly benefits.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

As employers have recognized the significance of employees' need to manage conflicts between their work and family roles, many have added 'family-friendly' benefits to their employee benefits. These benefits include family leave policies and child care. The following types of benefits are typical:
 
1) Family leave-Family or parental leave grants employees time off to care for children and other dependents. The federal law requires 12 weeks of unpaid leave, and companies may choose to offer more generous leave policies. Most industrialized nations provide paid maternal leave and often paternal leave as well. Tech companies, which compete in a tight labor market, are among the leaders in offering paid maternity and paternity leave.

2) Child care-Child care benefits may take several forms, requiring different levels of organizational involvement. The lowest level of involvement is for the organization to supply and help employees collect information about the cost and quality of available child care. At the next level, organizations provide vouchers or discounts for employees to use at existing child care facilities. At the highest level of involvement, the employer provides child care at or near the work site. Staffing a child care facility is costly and involves important liability concerns. At the same time, the results of this type of benefit, in terms of reducing absenteeism and enhancing productivity, have been mixed.

3) College savings-As workers' children grow up, their needs shift from maternity leave and child care to college tuition. Some organizations have supported this concern by sponsoring tax-favored 529 savings plans. These plans, named after the section of the Internal Revenue Code that regulates them, let parents and other family members defer taxes on the earnings of their deposits into the 529 account. Some states also provide a (limited) tax deduction for these contributions. As an employee benefit, organizations can arrange with a broker to offer direct deposit of a portion of employees' paychecks into their accounts. Besides offering the convenience of direct deposit, employers can negotiate lower management fees.

4) Elder care-As the population of the nation's elderly grows, so do the demands on adult children to care for elderly parents, aunts, and uncles. When these people become ill or disabled, they rely on family or professional caregivers. In response, many employers have added elder care benefits. These programs often started by offering employees information and referrals; today these resources are often made available online. More recent enhancements of elder care benefits include referrals, decision support from experts, as well as flexible hours and paid time off. Even companies that cannot afford to offer counseling or referral services can use intranets to provide links to helpful websites.