Today’s working families have a multitude of responsibilities to contend with and are increasingly turning to their employers for support beyond their pay packets.
While many may be parents with concerns around childcare, there are also those who are looking for help with forming their families in the first instance, for example, through the provision of time off for fertility treatments or adoption processes, as well as people caring for elderly parents or relatives.
Employers should therefore ensure that the support they offer is as wide-ranging and inclusive as possible so that all employees who have, or plan to have, dependants – regardless of their circumstances – can more easily manage their work and life commitments and are not forced out of the workplace altogether.
“Fundamental necessity”
In May 2023, The Working Families Index 2023: Spotlight on lower-income families revealed that many working mothers and fathers on low incomes must go into debt, reduce their hours, or leave work altogether because they can’t afford or are unable to access childcare.
Meg Murray Jones, founder of online parents’ membership Postpartum Plan, says: “Family-friendly policies should be recognised as a fundamental necessity for every business, rather than being regarded as an optional employee benefit.
“During the lockdown, the boundaries between family and work became blurred as parents juggled their work and family commitments. This situation revealed the need to support working parents, to reduce the substantial loss of talent when parents decide to exit the workforce after having children, primarily due to the overwhelming challenge of managing both responsibilities.”
Recognising that not all employers are able to provide childcare subsidies or onsite crèches, one cost-effective provision they could afford to offer is flexible working.
The option of flexible hours is also beneficial for those with other caring responsibilities and for those attending fertility or adoption appointments, so can be a win-win for a large proportion of the workforce. And, with the introduction of the Flexible Working Act expected to take effect in spring 2024, many employers are choosing to change their policies now to stay ahead of the curve.
Anya Sizer, founder of Fertility in the Workplace, which is part of the UK patient fertility charity Fertility Network UK, says: “Emotional support and then flexible working practices are absolutely vital. There are add-ons such as reasonable adjustments, other workplace benefits such as low-cost loans for fertility treatments, but those are sort of the things that come after you’ve got support and flexible working practices in place, as these are key.”
The value of health
With the cost-of-living crisis still raging and a significant proportion of families cutting back on everyday spending, one thing most aren’t willing to compromise on is healthcare.
According to Health Shield’s latest research, eight in 10 (81%) employees would like their employer to extend benefits to the whole family.
Paul Shires, commercial director at Health Shield, explains: “On family-friendly benefits that are likely to make the most impact, our latest research found that the cost-of-living crisis might also be currently driving demand. We found that nearly all employees (98%) thought that companies should support employees with their health and wellbeing.”
He highlighted that many people are likely to facing a combination of downward pressure on finances, and upward cost pressures, such as price increases on dentistry. Coupled with that, there are also ongoing pressures in the NHS, such as problems access primary care services, from GPs to NHS dentists.
Shires adds: “If employers offer access to benefits that help in all these areas, not only to their employees but also their families, this can provide huge value to their people, in turn supporting wider business goals around recruitment and retention.”
Bereavement and breakdowns
When it comes to family-friendly benefits at work, many employers neglect to support staff who may be struggling with the loss of a family member.
MetLife recently partnered with Everest Funeral Concierge to enhance its group life offering, which provides access to services to consider, plan, navigate and carry out funeral planning, including a free will writing service.
The product is now also available to all internal MetLife staff and their families, free of charge, to help with any and all funeral, grief and bereavement planning.
Adrian Matthews, head of employee benefits at MetLife: “Unfortunately, nothing will ever ease the pain of losing someone we love, but planning and understanding ones wishes, can go some way to making an emotionally challenging time a little easier.”
Another often overlooked aspect of family life is the breakdown of a family unit.
The Positive Parenting Alliance set up an initiative for employers wanting to ensure they provide separation and divorce support to employees, recognising that doing so will support them both personally and professionally, in terms of their productivity.
Founder James Hayhurst says: “Family focused employee benefits and support should be from the cradle to the grave and that means including support for the difficult times, such as divorce and separation, which can be a truly distressing time for an employee and their family. Some major employers have already started to offer support to employees who are going through a separation, such as Tesco, Metro Bank, NatWest and Unilever, law firms and others.
“Employers as well as employees benefit from this kind of support, as our own research shows that more than 70% of employees admitted that they were less efficient at work and over 40% felt they had to take time off work as a result of their separation.
“Whether it be more flexibility over working hours, signposting to support and guidance or time off, help during divorce and separation could be a critical benefit for many.”
Inclusive benefits
With all family-focused benefits offerings, employees need to feel like their individual needs are being considered and catered for.
Avneet Kaur, head of advisory and specialty practice, Health Solutions EMEA, Aon, says: “When we speak about diversity, equity and inclusion – internally and for our clients – we like to also include belonging. Everybody speaks about D and I, but we speak about D, I and B. A very important part of that belonging is ensuring the employee feels not only supported and understood, but taken care of.”
Claire Merritt: Family friendly leave options
She explains that while there are a number of innovative benefits being offered in today’s workplaces, a holistic approach is needed to ensure employees get the right support at the right time.
Shires adds: “Of course, inclusivity of benefits also involves ensuring that they don’t come with lots of caveats around how a partner or dependent child is defined. So, ideally, partner should include anyone who permanently lives with the employee in a relationship – whether married or not and regardless of gender. And where children are concerned, it should also recognise different family models. For example, our terms say ‘your relationship as a significant person in the child’s life is enough for them to be covered’.”
Informed decision-making
For employers wanting to get their provisions right, technology can help with the provision of data for informed decision-making.
Fernando Campos, Aon’s CEO of Health Solutions, EMEA, says: “The key is all about having the data, understanding your employees, segmentation and communication, which I think is still what many multinationals are lacking, a strong communication around all the employee value proposition.”
Sizer believes that while statistics can help, in some cases it’s a change of changing attitudes and mindsets at companies where families don’t always come first.
“It’s a whole culture shift and it’s not easy, so you’ve got to see it as a work in progress. It may take time to shift the culture,” she explains. “I personally think it starts with all staff training – and not just HR management training and then hoping it trickles down, but with all staff training so that everyone’s on board,” she says.
Regardless of their approach, Sizer urges employers to be empathetic.
She adds: “Unless we have that mentality right at the start, we’re going to really hit upon problems within the cycle and again, potentially losing really the brightest and best among us.”
Murray Jones agrees that by not offering support for families, employers risk struggling to retain talent within their businesses, but highlights the problem potentially extends beyond an employers’ existing talent pool.
She warns: “Considering that the average cost of replacing an employee amounts to £30,000, the expenses associated with family-friendly benefits are tiny in comparison! The impact isn’t confined to talent loss alone; it extends to talent acquisition as well.
“Research conducted by Vodafone indicates that one in five people aged 18 to 34 have relinquished their jobs due to inadequate parental leave policies. Neglecting family-friendly initiatives will affect your ability to attract the best talent for your workforce.”
Today’s employers would therefore do well to ensure they provide relevant and inclusive benefits for working families both now, and in the future.
