When your employees applied to work for your firm and you offered them a job, the deal was simple. They’d work for the firm and the firm would pay them money. There might have been something about training and career development, too.
Once they were in, you probably diverted from that narrow track, springing it on those unsuspecting employees that they didn’t just have a job, they’d joined a family or some sort of religion. You might have intended well, but the effect was you were following them home and threatening to invade the whole of their lives.
Maybe you’re trying too hard to do the right thing. They just want fairness, not philosophy. Most of all, they don’t want fine words when your actions don’t always match.
Whatever business you’re running, it’s not a religion. Stick to the work. Don’t torture yourself to come up with a ‘family’ message, and give your employees the benefit of the doubt: maybe they don’t need you to tell them how to live their lives?