Could engaging employees’ families with benefits be the key to better engagement?

For years, HR has focused on optimising benefits and culture strategies aimed squarely at single employees, but how many of us now make decisions about wellbeing, benefits and company loyalty on our own?

Our families - partners, children and even ageing relatives – can often shape the way we use benefits, manage stress and work-life balance, and ultimately connect with our employer.

Leading organisations globally are beginning to recognise this. Since the pandemic, many have enhanced leave policies, implemented hybrid models and brought in tools to support work-life balance, but increasingly these measures are considered ‘baseline’.

To differentiate, more progressive employers are now moving towards a more holistic, family-informed approach, underpinned by data-led demographic insight. By deliberately engaging the family unit, employers can find more powerful and lasting ways to transform benefits engagement and strengthen cultural buy-in.

Understanding employees by life stage (rather than just job role or tenure) helps HR align benefits more closely with overall family needs, which can influence the value employees derive from benefits. Globally, there are some interesting examples of this happening.

Bringing families into the conversation

At a recent REBA workshop focussing on deskless workers, a whole range of employers reported an increase in the uptake of benefits simply by writing to home addresses. Building more family-inclusive communications practices is definitely an area where we can be far more proactive.

In Sweden, Volvo has pioneered family-inclusive benefits communications, offering “family information evenings” during annual benefits renewal. These hybrid sessions allow partners to understand the company’s wellbeing philosophy, ask questions and explore the healthcare options available.
In Denmark, Vestas hosts digital briefings for employees and their families when they introduce new wellbeing or insurance benefits, making sure everyone in the household understands the value of coverage and has clarity around claims and eligibility.

UK Learning – UK employers could adopt these practices by hosting optional family-inclusive benefits webinars and provide guides for things like cash plan add-ons and upgrades or rules around flexible leave.

Using data to personalise benefits for family life stages

When our team visit clients for face-to-face meetings they help employees to set up their HR app and personalise the experience by asking them how their needs might change in the next couple of years.

Whether it’s a car salary sacrifice scheme or information on becoming a new parent, by ‘favouriting’ certain content, they can put it at people’s fingertips for when they need it.

By using MI data to segment employees by life stage (developing, flourishing, establishing, mentoring and coaching) we can be even more forensic about people’s needs at work, and at home.

In the US, both Microsoft and Salesforce use employee demographics and life stage insights to personalise communications around financial wellbeing, childcare benefits and care for elderly relatives.

UK Learning – this does not have to be overly complicated. By tailoring messaging around things like childcare subsidies for parents of infants or emphasising retirement and Power of Attorney support to older workers, employers can significantly increase benefits engagement, and the value employees derive from them.

Opening preventative health measures to the whole family

Cash plans are increasingly important for families because they provide affordable access to healthcare benefits that families use frequently and value highly: things like eye tests and glasses, dental, physiotherapy and diagnostics.

In Sweden, IKEA provide subsidised health checks for employees and children, including dental care.
In Australia, Woolworths’ HealthyLife offers Online GP access and low-cost diagnostics to the whole family.
In the US, Target offers big discounts on virtual mental health therapy for employees and their dependents.

UK Learning – By positioning cash plans as a health enabler for the entire family, companies can revolutionise take-up rates and perceived value, especially given the current NHS waiting times to see a GP or get a diagnostic referral.

Making company ‘culture’ relevant to the whole family

If ‘company culture’ starts when employees walk through the office door and ends when they leave, you may need a rethink. Especially in the hybrid world, family buy-in can really reinforce organisational values.

In Denmark, Novo Nordisk’s ‘Family Days at Work’ allow them to invite partners and children to come in, meet colleagues and learn about the company’s mission.
In the US, Netflix has an open invitation for partners to attend some internal events and brings families into the company’s culture through generous 12-month parental leave.
In Australia, mining giant BHP runs ‘Family Weeks’ where they actively encourage families to provide feedback on the pressures of shift work and its impact on home life, and Telstra runs confidential partner feedback surveys to understand how work strain is affecting family life.

UK Learning – Especially for hybrid-focused companies, virtual family sessions and wellbeing workshops can work well. For industries like manufacturing with an onus on deskless workers and shifts, in-person events allowing for feedback on family impact could cut through and reduce the sense of separation between work and home.

Supporting life stage family planning

Irrespective of income level, age or background, all employees and families value support dealing with major life events.

In the US, IBM runs free family financial planning sessions covering mortgages, debt management and saving for children’s education.
In Australia, KPMG offers family legal clinics for wills, estate planning and Power of Attorney.
In Denmark, Carlsberg provides structured support for employees with ageing parents.

UK Learning – whether it’s advice for buying or renting a first home, managing bereavement, transitioning through childcare or fertility treatments, or preparing to retire, company-led life stage strategies that identify the need for help and provide practical support can make a massive difference. These services deepen loyalty and trust by making the company-family bond a 24/7 commitment.

A future of family-friendly HR

As organisations strive to improve benefits engagement and embed culture more deeply, family involvement offers a powerful competitive edge. By tapping into the household perspective through communication, wellbeing support, personalisation and cultural inclusion, employers can hug families closer and embark on a new era of employee engagement.