[amtamt]

Considered "valued" vs considered "useful" is probably the analogy that should be used here. Subsidizing childcare signals "we value you", while flat increae is signaling "you are useful to us", which can make a lot of impact on moral.

[HelloNurse]

The message of subsidized childcare is not generically "we value you", but "we want you to have children while you work for us", which for most employees is more important than money. Compare to companies that avoid hiring women to avoid dealing with maternity leave.

[itsoktocry]

I live in a country with generous maternity leave. I have a family, and we're grateful we could access it. But maternity leave is tricky for businesses.

My anecdote: I worked for a company whose long-time CEO retired. After an involved search, the company found a replacement. She was onboarded and started getting in a groove, then 6 months in it was announced she would be leaving for a year of maternity leave. So we had to find another CEO. 10 months later the original hire decided she would not be returning to the role (she's under no obligation to). No problem, except the replacement CEO assumed this was a temporary position, so she already had another job lined up after her term. Once again, we were searching for a new CEO...

All of a sudden you're working for a company that's had 5 CEOs in 3 years. That's a hard thing for a company to deal with. People will say, "that can happen anyway!". Sure, but the strange thing here is nobody did anything wrong, and yet an incredibly destabilizing environment resulted and the business suffered.

[HelloNurse]

If the company doesn't have someone ready for a promotion to CEO, and needs an "involved" search for a replacement, and doesn't get work done without one, it is an understaffed, unprepared and unattractive company.

[justsomehnguy]

> Sure, but the strange thing here is nobody did anything wrong

And if anyone did anything for the business...

[KeplerBoy]

Is there really a perceived difference on the employees side?

If anything subsidized childcare feels like charity and I don't want charity, I want to be paid well for my work, so I can take care of my family.

[RestlessMind]

> Is there really a perceived difference on the employees side?

Only if we could generalize all the employees! I am sure there are some who feel better to have holiday gifts, holiday parties, token recognition rewards etc. And there would be some who just evaluate everything on the basis of cold hard numbers. A good company should have policies to cater to as many employees as possible.

[amtamt]

For some people there is no percieved differnce, some would think employer is trying to save on taxes, while for some (many?) there is a real percieved difference as being seen a member of family rather than a disposable hired hand.

For an analogy, one can be given money instead of being invited to a social gathering. One might feel offended, while other may feel happier.