Company will reimburse your fees as you need a exit visa to fly, but you will have to pay for your families exit visas. In theory the cost of a 12 month exit visa has changed from 1000 SAR to 2300 SAR.
If you are actually allowed to keep your kids outside for 12 months, this would actually be cheaper than having to fly them back every 6 months to renew their visas, so in a round about way, the new system might actually be cheaper for some!