Analyzing Family-Oriented Benefits

Abstract

            Family-oriented benefits provide employees with an opportunity to simultaneously perform work and family related responsibilities.

            This paper focuses on family-oriented benefits as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

Analyzing Family-Oriented Benefits

            Over the years, governments have realized the importance of families in the society. This is the reason for the establishment of family friendly workplaces. The size of families in the United States has dropped considerably because Americans are now having fewer children. Aside from the usual employee benefits package, there is now a huge demand for family-oriented benefits (Hoegen, 1994).

            While employee benefits have been a long-drawn concern, there is a growing trend nowadays which is geared towards providing family oriented benefits. This arises as a result of employees demanding more time to care for a child or sick member of the family (Foegen, 1994).

What Are Family-Oriented Benefits?

            An establishment is said to be family-friendly when it accepts and provides their employees with benefits that allows them to exercise their responsibilities to their families such as child care, maternity, and paternity, among others (Foegen, 1994).

            Family-oriented benefits provide employees with an opportunity to simultaneously perform work and family related responsibilities (Catsouphes, 2002).

The Importance of Family-Oriented Benefits

            In 1989, the US Department of Labor conducted a survey involving 109,000 establishments with more than 100 employees from 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. The study showed that close to 40 percent of employees had unpaid maternity leaves, 20 percent had unpaid paternity leaves, 25 percent received benefits from reimbursement accounts to defray the cost of medical and dependent-care, 10 percent are allowed to work on a flexible schedule (Foegen, 1994).

In a more recent survey conducted by the AFL-CIO, 70% of working women who participated in the research indicated that being compensated for taking care of a sick family member is important. Working flexible hours was given a high mark by sixty percent of the respondents. Fifty six percent of the employees with children less than 12 years old believed in the importance of child care benefits (Kiser, 1998).

            The survey likewise revealed that because the number of mothers who are working full-time rather than part time has increased. Spending time with family work remains unaccomplished since they have to cope up with the rigors of a heavy workload in the office (Kiser, 1998).

            Unfortunately, family-oriented benefits are not provided in majority of workplaces in the United States. A measly 9% of full-time workers in state and local governments were provided with child care assistance in 1994 and 8% of employees who were working for medium and large businesses (Kiser, 1998).

            According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, many firms have removed flexible time schedule from the benefits they provide and 11% of full time workers from medium and large companies worked on a flexible schedule in 1989 and only 1% in 1995 (Kiser, 1998).

The Advantages of Providing Family-Oriented Benefits

            There are various advantages of providing family-oriented benefits to employees of companies which have the budget to offer them. One such reason is social responsibility. Likewise, providing family-oriented benefits will increase job satisfaction and will have a favorable impact on the morale of employees. In addition, family-oriented benefits will facilitate both recruitment and retention. Such kind of programs will also help the company realize their long-term goals (Foegen, 1994).

            Aside from that, providing employees with family-oriented benefits will provide more bonding time between parents and children. It will likewise minimize stress and provide more options to the employee. Family-oriented benefits will likewise help employees improve their living conditions and economic status. On the part of the employer, it will help them retain valuable employees and select the most qualified candidate (Community Toolbox, n.d).

            First Tennessee National Corporation, a midsize regional bank that only provided family-oriented benefits to their employees in 1993, was the surprise winner in a survey conducted by Business Week involving ten firms with excellent strategies and outcome. Among those who emerged as leaders include DuPont, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, among others (Hammonds, 1997).

            Since First Tennessee became easy with the office rules and allowed the employee to select the best schedule for them, employee retention increased twice as much as the bank average. The increase in employee retention was translated to a 55% increase for a period of two years (Hammonds, 1997).

            Aetna Life & Casualty Co., reduced to half the number of turnover of new mothers by providing a longer unpaid parental leave to 6 months which resulted to savings of up to $1 million annually in recruitment and training. When family programs were introduced in Johnson & Johnson in 1992, there was a decrease in the number of absence among all employees.

            According to the similar survey conducted by Business Week revealed that 54% of top management of the companies involved in the study showed their acceptance and concern for the family issues of their employees. According to experts, majority of firms have reduced their family-oriented benefits to child and elderly care. The usual cost of the benefit is $2 to $3 annually. According to figures posted by Hewitt Associates (1997), 73% of companies have switched to flexible times in 1995 (Hammonds, 1997).

Disadvantages of Family-Oriented Benefits

            While most companies are headed towards the path taken by First Tennessee and Johnson & Johnson, there are still some disadvantages that this new trend presents. First, it is prone to controversy. For example, elderly care services can become “baby-sitting” which can be a degrading duty. The elderly cannot be compared to children but should be treated with respect.

            Providing family-oriented benefits may require sufficient source of funds. The allocation of funds may require some degree of imagination and creativity from the management. Social Security and Medicare are the most viable sources of funds but that can be a debatable proposition (Foegen, 1994).

            Another possible obstacle is getting the support and commitment of management. In order to implement family-oriented benefits, it would have to be inserted into the corporate culture. Motorola, which ranked second to First Tennessee, conducted trainings for supervisors and management and seminars for the employees. CEO Platt of Hewlett-Packard requires each business unit to point out work-family concerns of their employees and recommend an action plan as part of its yearly business review (Hammonds, 1997)

What Are The Benefits That Employees Can Look For?

            In general, work-family oriented benefits and programs can be divided into six groups (Catsouphes, 2002):

Dependent-care benefits which may include referral, subsidies, child and elder care
Flexible Working Schedule as well as the option to work-at-home
Family and individual leaves
Maximizing time and money
Education and training
Traditional provision of job quality and compensation benefits

According to a study by the Conference Board, life stage or family-oriented benefits may include the following (Foegen, 1994):

Pre-natal care, which may help defray costs of an expensive birth complications
Medical insurance for stepchildren of workers who remarry
Job search support for a worker involved in a job-related relocation of their spouses
Elderly care, which becomes vital due to aging and more work
An important benefit when it comes to the elderly is long-term insurance. In 1989, a survey conducted by the Department of Labor, showed that 3 percent of workers are already covered by this benefit. Usually, protection is not included in a regular health insurance plan and is entirely shouldered by the employee. Long-term care can be valuable because workers benefits from group rates protected from the costly insurance provided by management (Foegen, 1994).

The Family Leave Act

            Under the Family Leave Act of 1993, companies with more than 50 employees for every working day over 20 calendar weeks in the present or past year must give their employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a span of one year. Each qualified employee will be entitled to the following benefits (All Business, n.d):

Birth and/or child care for the newborn child of the worker
Placement through foster care or child adoption with the worker
Immediate care for a family member with a crucial health illness
Care for an employee who cannot work due to a serious medical illness
In order to be eligible for the benefits, an employee must satisfy the following requirements: 1) must have worked with the company for a year; 2) must have logged a minimum of 1,250 hours within the year immediately before the leave; 3) working in a firm that has more than 50 employees working within 75 miles from the workplace (All Business, n.d).

Conclusion

An establishment is said to be family-friendly when it accepts and provides their employees with benefits that allows them to exercise their responsibilities to their families such as child care, maternity, and paternity, among others. Family-oriented benefits provide employees with an opportunity to simultaneously perform work and family related responsibilities.

In 1989, the US Department of Labor conducted a survey involving 109,000 establishments with more than 100 employees from 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia. The study showed that close to 40 percent of employees had unpaid maternity leaves, 20 percent had unpaid paternity leaves, 25 percent received benefits from reimbursement accounts to defray the cost of medical and dependent-care, 10 percent are allowed to work on a flexible schedule

Unfortunately, family-oriented benefits are not provided in majority of workplaces in the United States. A measly 9% of full-time workers in state and local governments were provided with child care assistance in 1994 and 8% of employees who were working for medium and large businesses.

            There are various advantages of providing family-oriented benefits to employees of companies which have the budget to offer them. One such reason is social responsibility. Likewise, providing family-oriented benefits will increase job satisfaction and will have a favorable impact on the morale of employees. In addition, family-oriented benefits will facilitate both recruitment and retention. Such kind of programs will also help the company realize their long-term goals.

            Providing family-oriented benefits may require sufficient source of funds. The allocation of funds may require some degree of imagination and creativity from the management. Social Security and Medicare are the most viable sources of funds but that can be a debatable proposition.

            Another possible obstacle is getting the support and commitment of management. In order to implement family-oriented benefits, it would have to be inserted into the corporate culture.

In general, work-family oriented benefits and programs can be divided into six groups:

Dependent-care benefits which may include referral, subsidies, child and elder care
Flexible Working Schedule as well as the option to work-at-home
Family and individual leaves
Maximizing time and money
Education and training
Traditional provision of job quality and compensation benefits
According to a study by the Conference Board, life stage or family-oriented benefits may include the following (Foegen, 1994):

Pre-natal care, which may help defray costs of an expensive birth complications
Medical insurance for stepchildren of workers who remarry
Job search support for a worker involved in a job-related relocation of their spouses
Elderly care, which becomes vital due to aging and more work
An important benefit when it comes to the elderly is long-term insurance. In 1989, a survey conducted by the Department of Labor, showed that 3 percent of workers are already covered by this benefit. Usually, protection is not included in a regular health insurance plan and is entirely shouldered by the employee. Long-term care can be valuable because workers benefits from group rates protected from the costly insurance provided by management.

The Family Leave Act

            Under the Family Leave Act of 1993, companies with more than 50 employees for every working day over 20 calendar weeks in the present or past year must give their employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave within a span of one year. Each qualified employee will be entitled to the following benefits:

Birth and/or child care for the newborn child of the worker
Placement through foster care or child adoption with the worker
Immediate care for a family member with a crucial health illness
Care for an employee who cannot work due to a serious medical illness
In order to be eligible for the benefits, an employee must satisfy the following requirements: 1) must have worked with the company for a year; 2) must have logged a minimum of 1,250 hours within the year immediately before the leave; 3) working in a firm that has more than 50 employees working within 75 miles from the workplace.

            For companies who are looking for increased productivity and enhanced performance from their employees, providing family-oriented benefits is the way to go. As the surveys say, family-oriented benefits can help reduce absenteeism, improve the production of the company.

References

Catsouphes, M (2002 August 14). Family Friend Workplace. Sloan Work and Family Research Network. Retrieved September 27 2008 from http://wfnetwork.bc.edu/encyclopedia_entry.php?id=232

Family Leave Policies. All Business.com. Retrieved September 27 2008 from http://www.allbusiness.com/human-resources/workforce-management-employee/2565-1.html

Foegen, J.H (1994). New Member of  The Family? – Family Benefits. Business Horizons. Retrieved September 27 2008 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1038/is_n2_v37/ai_15419795/pg_2?tag=artBody;col1

Hammonds, K (1997 June 14). Balancing Work and Family. Business Week. Retrieved

September 27 2008 from http://www.businessweek.com/1996/38/b34931.htm

Kiser, J. Behind the Scenes at a ‘Family Friendly’ Workplace. Dollars & Sense Magazine. Retrieved September 27 2008 from http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/1998/0198kiser.html

Promoting Family-Friendly Policies in the Workplace and Government. Community Toolbox. Retrieved September 27 2008 from http://www.ctb.ku.edu