Time to read : 4 Minutes
Have a teenager or two languishing at home? Then do you realise that if they got a part-time job, it not only builds skills and starts the journey to financial independence, but it could help the household budget?
Many companies – big and small – offer “work perks” above and beyond the minimum wage.
It’s just good business: without having to pay bigger bucks, it helps them secure staff loyalty.
And often not just the employee but their family can participate.
The companies that offer great employee benefits
I talked to parents of present and past teenagers to find out the bells-and-whistle benefits their family received. Here are some of their favourites.
Event Cinema: employees and their families get $2 movie tickets (capped at eight per month). That represents a saving per visit of as much as $22 for an adult. They also get 50% off food.
Wesfarmers: a fabulous company for benefits. The parent company of Bunnings and Kmart is generous to ‘team members’. Bunnings' staff, their parents and spouses enjoy 10% to 25% off while at Kmart, it’s 10% off storewide, which really adds up over bigger or multiple purchases.
Wesfarmers often offers staff discounts to its other companies, for example Coles (more in a moment), Target, Officeworks and Liquorland. The website says there is access to ‘Wesfarmers benefits’ – “discounts at other Wesfarmers brands and services including gym memberships, health insurance and much more.”
Bunnings: offers a tremendous program where you can work at other Bunnings outlets while you travel around Australia anywhere. Perfect if you want to explore our country with a steady stream of cash flow coming in.
Deserving of its own category – as a grocery store – is Coles…
Coles: staff and families get 5% off their shops – all the time – and 10% at extra times through the year. The myColes card nets you discounts to not just Wesfarmers companies Kmart and Bunnings but also their other outlets: Target, Officeworks and Liquorland.
Woolworths: the discount on shopping is 5% on Woolworths Own and some other brands, fresh produce and meat. And once a month you can receive a whole shop at 5% off, which could add up to a pretty penny.
And don’t forget that there are several other companies that fall under Woolworths’ umbrella. Big W is one, where you can pick up a wide range of other household items for cheaper… and also get one whole shop a month at 5% off. BWS, too, is in that suite of companies and comes at a discount.
On top, Woolworths gives staff triple the awards points.
McDonald’s: the fast-food outlet is not only known for providing great training and grounding in streamlined team processes, it also gives 50% off purchases before and after a shift, and 20% off at all other times. Some states offer a flat 30% though.
Guzman y Gomez: the Mexican franchise on a massive growth trajectory also provides 50% discount when on shift or 25% outside of it.
Subway: you apparently get a whole free sub if you work more than five hours, 50% off before or after your shift, or 25% off at other times.
Red Rooster: it’s a similar deal here – 50% off when on a shift and 10% to 20% off it.
In any case, it’s teenager food heaven!
And think about it… some of these discounts could save thousands for a family across a year, particularly on groceries and other products and services from operations owned by the same parent company.
But there is more to getting teens earning – and that’s learning.
The ‘priceless’ benefits of teens starting work early
I touched on some of the benefits from getting your kid-ult behind a counter, in a kitchen or stacking shelves, but developing a work ethic early is a huge one.
The sooner they learn that money is earned and not bestowed, the more relaxed and comfortable they will be with life beyond the family home.
Besides understanding employee responsibility and getting their first taste of decent remuneration, it also represents a great opportunity for parents to teach them the two vital money management lessons:
How to target goals. And the highly interrelated…
How to delay gratification… to achieve those goals.
A money ‘splitting and saving’ mentality will be life-changing for your young adult.
Help them get it by chatting about what it is they want to achieve – their most precious purpose/s, whether it be a car, schoolies or gap year travel… or something longer term like a house deposit.
And you can make it motivating. Point out that the younger you start investing, the easier and cheaper it is. Just $6 a day ($190 a month) invested at an 8% investment return from the day your young one graduates, will make them a millionaire by age 60.
But if you wait until just age 35, you’ll need to find $35 a day (or $1,052 a month).
What’s more, while you will make only $685,000 in returns on that money if you start at 35, the savvy earlier saver enjoys nearly $900,000 of – effectively – free money.
In other words, they’ve only needed to find $100,000 of their million-dollar pay day themselves.
Bottom line
Teaching your children the benefits of work – and how to make it work for them financially – will safeguard their lives (and ease the pressure on yours).
Discounts and other work perks are a fabulous, immediate incentive to begin looking after their longer-term self.
So where do you find out about what’s on offer?
A lot of official websites and job ads don't reveal the deals… which is why I went straight to the parents of ‘part-timers’ for the benefits they are currently enjoying.
They may also differ within the same company, particularly if stores are franchised, independently run, or in different regions.
So, confirming the concessions will literally come down to that: asking an employer.
And perhaps negotiating.
Which is another highly advantageous life skill.
