To think employers can pay for chicken pox vaccines

[coffeeforone]

I have been asked to put forward ideas of possible additional staff benefits to my employer. One that I have thought of is for the employer to pay for chicken pox vaccines (including for their family).

The benefits to both the employees and company are obvious. Less time off for parents benefits both. Kids don't need to suffer chicken pox.

But I'm not sure how well this idea would go down. If your employer offered to pay for the CP vaccine (but it would be a taxable benefit), would you vaccinate your little ones?

No. People without small DC won't benefit, ie most people.

It's a very niche benefit - only applicable to employees that have kids who haven't had CP and who are particularly concerned by it. I can think of a fair few things that would be higher up my list but some depend on the size/nature of the company and applicable tax regulations. Here's a few suggestions based on benefits I get or have had in the past:

Bike to work scheme (opportunity to purchase bike + accessories net of tax/NI and pay off monthly)
Discounted private healthcare (BUPA etc)
Employee share scheme
Free health checks
Employee support program (provided by third party, gives access to legal, financial etc advice and can also offer counselling services)
First aid training
Employee discount scheme (managed by 3rd party and gives access to discounts from a wide range of retailers and service providers)
Free/discounted access to online training e.g. Plurarsight, Safari etc
Discounted gym membership.

On site creche would surely be more useful and/or a holiday club?

We were one of the unlucky ones with a bad reaction to the chicken pox vaccine, so while I'm still pro-vax, it was extra annoying having paid for the vaccine to then take a week off work.

The kind of benefits that I would love:

• Free parking if relevant
• Season ticket loan for train
• Free or subsidised gym membership
• BUPA or similar
• Flu vaccines
• Annual health check
• CP vaccine for children is also a good one - no one HAS to take it up, but a nice little benefit if you have kids
• Holiday buy-back scheme for any unused days and/or being able to carry forward up to 5 days from one year to the next
• Flexi-time and option to work from home one day a week if your role allows it.

If the NHS thought it worthwhile to vaccinate, it would.

Not necessarily. The nhs doesn’t always get it right. It doesn’t test for GBS during pregnancy where many other developed countries do. I think they should follow Australia and the US and vaccinate.

I think it’s a great idea. My only worry is that if it wasn’t taken up by the parents for personal choice reasons would they be treated less well because the company thinks they should have had the vaccine?

Having said that, I paid privately and think it’s a great vaccine.

Probably like a service with a nanny agency where if your child is off school or nursery sick the employer pays for the full day or days of cihldcare at your home might be more useful.

What about those employees who don't have children? I think benefits should be equal - you may not choose to take up, say, gym membership, but it's open to all and the same "value".

The non parents might benefit indirectly by not needing to provide 'cover' because someone is off because their kid has CP.
The system would be a way so that everyone can choose benefits up to a certain 'value', so for example if you don't take the CP vaccine you can use the value for e.g. a sports massage for yourself (another idea being put forward)

My only worry is that if it wasn’t taken up by the parents for personal choice reasons would they be treated less well because the company thinks they should have had the vaccine?

Yep. My children’s healthcare and my workplace need to stay as two separate entities. There is the potential for conflicts of interest to develop when companies get involved with family life.

You'd be far better off funding separate Measles, mumps and rubella vaxes . I paid a fortune for my two to get those.

Why? It's totally unnecessary and the worries about the MMR vaccine have been completely debunked by science. You paid a fortune, because those vaccines are not generally manufactured separately and probably had to be bought in from the USA or somewhere else where anti-vax hysteria is prevalent.

Some great ideas - thanks!!
The conflicts issue is a really good point.

My only worry is that if it wasn’t taken up by the parents for personal choice reasons would they be treated less well because the company thinks they should have had the vaccine?

Having the CP vaccine doesn't guarantee you won't get CP anyway! DS1 had it when we were living OS and he got a really nasty dose of it (much worse than DS2, who was BFing at the time and so got the benefit of my immunity).

no

We have free flue jabs and a health care test, basically we hire a whole kit which tests blood pressure, BMI, weight etc, goes down a treat. It's all DIY so you hire the kit with instructions, no health care professional needed and run it ourselves, set it up for the day and courier it back

I think when people have young children, they can get into this sort of bubble where they view everything through the eyes of that time. It's tedious.

YABU.

Gym membership much better.

DHs company has a “take your birthday off” policy. If your birthday falls over a weekend you can choose the closest Friday or Monday. People love it.

I paid to have both my DC vaccinated at 9 months. £120 each. Mostly so we wouldn't have to take time off work. So sounds good to me!

What about a dental plan? My husband has one included in his staff benefits plan

No DC so not sure about chicken pox vax - but here are some benefits we have:
Flu jab
Health insurance
Discounted dental insurance
Health check every 2 years
Free fruit twice a week
Subsidised canteen
Subsidised gym
Assistance for cyclists (I think it’s changing rooms and bike maintenance)
On site yoga and mindfulness classes
Employee assistance programme including counselling
Membership to an emergency childcare scheme
Membership to a concierge scheme
Occasional lunch time lectures from doctors/experts in certain health issues (eg diabetes, mental health, etc)
Sports clubs
Buy and sell holiday
Late night cabs
Ability to charge dinner to client

I do find it interesting how anti-vaxxers are mad for not believing health professionals, but parents know better than the NHS about whether a chicken pox vaccine is needed.

I'm not an ant-vaxxer but with regard to the chicken pox vaccine it's not just some parents who think they know better than the NHS, it's also a large number of developed countries. The NHS doesn't vaccinate because it increases the risk of shingles in elderly people who haven't had the shingles vaccine.

Very good benefit, and would be likely very cost effective with reducing time lost to carer days. I would happily take it up.

I don't know any adults who haven't had chicken pox, so this is only going to benefit those with small children, which isn't exactly fair (I doubt you'd get much support for the employer paying for employee's dog's leptospirosis vaccinations on the basis that it can spread to humans... and that's really no different to your proposition)

Pick things that every employee could make use of if they do wished - season ticket loans, cycle to work scheme, gym membership, that sort of thing. If you wanted to suggest something healthcare based, free physio for injuries would be a better idea - it's relatively cheap, and gets people back to work quicker.

The non parents might benefit indirectly by not needing to provide 'cover' because someone is off because their kid has CP

As a non parent, I think that's a typically crap HR response. Firstly, other parents might end up doing the cover, not specifically the non parent. Secondly, what about when the parent is off looking after their poorly child with mumps, a severe cold, the flu, german measles, tonsillitis - or will all those be vaccinated free too?

@Avocados Meet me! I've never had it and I'm 45.

Everyone who has the chicken pox vaccination needs repeated doses as it only lasts 10-15 years and leaves you at a huge risk of shingles which is really dangerous for adults

The higher risk of shingles is in those who haven't had the vaccination though. That's not a good reason not to vaccinate my children, especially as the adult can have a shingles vaccine if they want.