Employee welfare is a very broad area of interest. In our organisation employee welfare is addressed to varying degrees by measures such as
1. Family friendly policies. For example, staff can in most positions opt to work part time. Or they can choose to "purchase" extra annual leave (i.e. get paid slightly less each fortnight, but get an extra 2 - 4 weeks of annual leave)
2. Flexi time - Most staff can choose how early or late they start each day, so long as they are here between 10 am and 4 pm. Of course, they have to make up time if they regularly start late or finish early. Staff can carry up to 20 hours deficit or 20 hours surplus from one month to the next. If in surplus, staff can take this time off with manager approval.
3. Employee Assistance Programs. Our agency has an arrangement with an external counselling service so that employees, or members of their immediate family can access counselling on any matter whatsoever - work issues, drug and alcohol problems, family dynamics etc etc etc
4. Policies on bullying and harassment in the workplace. Psychological health is a big focus for us and sadly there are a few managers who are very "unhealthy" for their staff.
5. Paid Maternity & Adoption Leave - a recent industrial decision enables staff to have up to 12 weeks paid maternity or adoption leave and up to 2 years unpaid leave for each child. Of course, under equal opportunity legislation the organisation is obliged to allow the employee to return to their position when this leave is finished.
6. The agency maintains a "family friendly" website that has links to support services for a whole range of things - parenting, domestic violence, child abuse, health isues (specific to men and women) etc.
We work on the premise that to addres employee welfare adequately, we need to consider the employeein the context of their whole life, and not just in the workplace. As a staff member, my observation is that these measures are very useful to staff and most staff would take advantage of at least one or two strategies to support their welfare.
Hope this helps to spark off some "inspiration".