Innovative Freddie Mac Benefits Focus on Homeownership, Employee Wellness

Freddie Mac has recently added two innovative programs to its package of employee benefits. The company is helping its own employees achieve the dream of homeownership with an affordable Home Benefit Program and offering employees access to free preventative and urgent health care services at an on-site health and wellness center.

The homeownership program will provide eligible employees who are first-time homebuyers with financial assistance and homeownership education. The program provides an interest-free, forgivable benefit of up to $12,000 that may be used to cover down payments, closing costs or loan origination fee and/or discount point(s) to first-time homebuyers. Twenty percent of the benefit is forgiven each year over a period of five years of continued service to the company.

"Helping people realize their dreams of homeownership is what Freddie Mac does, and our mission should include helping our own," said Freddie Mac's Chairman and CEO Richard F. Syron.

The new Home Benefit Program will also offer eligible employees homebuyer education and counseling sessions throughout the year, which will walk them through the homebuying process. Some of the topics covered in the sessions include: credit and why it's important; managing money; goal setting; planning; financial institutions and becoming a homeowner. In addition, qualified employees will receive a "closing time off" benefit, which will give them up to four hours off – with pay – to attend the closing on their new home.

The new Freddie Mac Wellness Center will be available free of charge to both full and part-time employees from Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM except for holidays. For employees' convenience, appointments will not be necessary for emergency and urgent care, however, appointments will be necessary for non-emergency care. The Center will be managed and staffed by dedicated health professionals from Whole Health™ Management, a leading provider of on-site health care services, and will include an on-site nurse practitioner available five days a week, a doctor two days a week and a dietician one day a week.

"We are providing this benefit because we value the health and vitality of our employees and are committed to helping them maintain a healthy lifestyle. We also believe on-site health and wellness care will enable employees to better meet both their professional and personal obligations," said Mike Hager, senior vice president, Human Resources, Freddie Mac.

As one of the Washington, DC region's most admired employers, Freddie Mac's dedication to providing a dynamic, employee-friendly workplace manifests itself through an ever increasing range of innovative programs and benefits offered to employees. In addition to the Home Benefit Program and Wellness Center, employees benefit from an on-site fitness center, business casual dress, lactation rooms and consultation, dependent/health care accounts, award-winning adoption benefits, a near-site child care center and back up care, a concierge service, flex-time, purchasable vacation days, exemplary 401(k) program, and work-life assistance to name a few offerings. For more information about Freddie Mac, visit http://www.freddiemac.com/careers/benefits/.

Freddie Mac's innovative programs and policies that help families achieve work/life balance recently placed us on the winners' list for Working Mother magazine’s list of top “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers.”