Many of today's workers are experiencing great difficulty trying to juggle both work and family responsibilities. Because so many employees are single parents or members of dual-income families, often there is no one available at home during working hours to care for the family. Therefore, a number of companies have begun to institute work and family programs as part of a "totally integrated employee benefits system" in an effort to help employees cope with these problems.[2] Examples of such programs are as follows: The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power instituted the following programs:[3]* reduced cost for child care* care for mildly ill children* parenting support groups* a "beeper-alert" program (in which employees are loaned beepers when they have an imminent family emergency) RJR Nabisco has a time-off program in which parents can take time off to accompany their children on the first day of school or to attend parent-teacher conferences.[4] Stride Rite instituted an interesting concept referred to as an Intergenerational Center (that is a day care for children and elder dependents of employees).[5] In addition to the programs listed, many organizations now offer nontraditional work arrangements, such as telecommuting, flextime and job sharing, to help workers cope with their personal and family-related responsibilities.[6] Most successful organizations realize that, generally speaking, employee satisfaction equals success. (Champion-Hughes, 2001, p. 287)
As you can see from the above list of companies the types of companies that are seeking to institute integrative benefits plans that allow employees to "have a life," outside of work are as diverse as the employees and the needs of those employees.
The overall...
In other words, even though a company may have a hiring or pay raise freezes those employees who are happy will continue to be loyal and will likely stay with the company for longer periods of time, a great benefit to companies in a challenged fiscal economy.
References
Arthur, D. (2001). The Employee Recruitment and Retention Handbook. New York: AMACOM.
Bill Proposes Tax Incentives for Companies That Offer Gym Memberships. (2005, May). Occupational Hazards, 67, 20.
Champion-Hughes, R. (2001). Totally Integrated Employee Benefits. Public Personnel Management, 30(3), 287.
Cohany, S.R. (1996). Workers in Alternative Employment Arrangements. Monthly Labor Review, 119(10), 31.
Company Benefits Stem from Diverse Workforce; EMPLOYMENT. (2008, June 3). The Birmingham Post (England), p. 19.
Ellison, N.B. (2004). Telework and Social Change: How Technology Is Reshaping the Boundaries between Home and Work. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Henneman, T. (2006, October 10). Companies That Embrace Equality: In 2006 a Record Number of Fortune 500 Companies Are Offering Benefits and Protections to Their LGBT Employees. The Advocate Highlights 10 Additions to Its Ever-Growing List of Equality-Minded Employers. The Advocate 58.
International, R.H. (2007). The Red Carpet Treatment: Employers Are Offering Generous Compensation and Progressive Benefits to Entice - and Keep - Top Accounting Talent in Today's Tight Labor Market. Journal of Accountancy, 204(2), 36.
Marler, J.H., & Moen, P. (2005). Alternative Employment Arrangements: A…
