Family-Friendly Workplace Options

The Bottom Line: Family-Friendly Workplace Policies Matter
Research indicates family-friendly workplace practices result in increased productivity,improved loyalty and commitment, and resilient, happier, healthier employees. Bottom-line benefits to employers include improved on-boarding, less turnover and lower absenteeism. In addition, family-friendly practices allow your employees to invest in their children — your future workforce . . . Family-friendly employment can help parents build safe, stable and nurturing environments for young children
— From the Family-Friendly Workplace Toolkit
Here are ways you can create a family-friendly workplace:

Health Benefits
Offer health, dental and vision insurance: EAPs; and short-term disability for reduced absenteeism and lost productivity.
40% of surveyed employees would prefer health insurance over a pay raise.1

Voluntary Living Wage
Offer a living wage for decreased employee turnover and to attract more qualified and productive workers.
$28,500 the cost to employers to replace an employee making $15,000/year, when a $2 wage increase would only cost the employer $4,160/year.2

Paid Leave
Offer paid time off, sick leave, vacation leave, personal leave, and/or paid family leave for reduced turnover, workers compensation claims, health care costs, plus an increase in productivity.
86% of US millennials, who make up the greatest percentage of today’s workforce,3 say they are less likely to leave an employer that offers paid parental leave.4

Child Care & Caregiving Support
Offer on-site child care; child care vouchers, discounts or referrals; childcare benefit plans and tax strategies; backup or emergency care; or elder care for reduced absenteeism and job turnover.
$1.34B in earnings and revenue lost each year in TN due to lack of adequate child care resources.5

Supportive Scheduling
Offer schedule flexibility, like a compressed work week, part-time work, job sharing and more to increase retention and improve efficiency and productivity with minimal or no impact on cost.
40% of parents who say they have left a job because it lacked flexibility.6

Supportive Services
Offer lactation support, expectant and new parent parking, and/or an infants-at-work policy to decrease absenteeism and increase employee retention.
$3 the amount employers save on average for every $1 invested by reducing employee turnover when family-friendly breastfeeding policies are implemented.7

Career Development Opportunities
Offer return-to-work/re-entry support programs, tuition reimbursement, and/or continuing education and certification opportunities to provide employees with increased family economic security.
$5,250 deduction per calendar year per employee when an employer offers a qualified educational assistance plan.8
This project is funded under an agreement with the State of Tennessee
Questions about creating and implementing family-friendly workplace policies?
Contact tccy.info@tn.gov.
1 https://www.glassdoor.crworkingfamiliesom/blog/ecs-q3-2015/
2 https://www.forworkingfamilies.org/resources/policy-tools-living-wage#resources
3 http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/04/11/millennials-largest-generation-us-labor-force/
4 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180809005704/en/
5 https://s3.amazonaws.com/nashvillechamber.com/PDFs/VitalSigns_2020.pdf
6 https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/parents-rank-flextime-above-salary.aspx
7 Griswold, M., & Palmquist, A. (2019). Breastfeeding and Family-Friendly Policies: An Evidence Brief. New York: UNICEF.
8 https://www.connectyourcare.com/blog/tuition-reimbursement-benefits-employers/#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20attracting%20top,to%20reduce%20their%20tax%20burdens
This project was supported by Award No. 2018-V2-GX-0024 awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice through the Tennessee Office of Criminal Justice Programs.