Why Family-Building Benefits are a Necessary Piece of Modern Employer Coverage

Family-building benefits were once synonymous with essential but limited parental offerings like maternity leave. But modern families have grown and changed significantly over the past few decades. In addition to maternity leave solutions, top employees are now requesting benefits like fertility care, postpartum recovery coaching and hormone replacement solutions. Many employers need help navigating this highly nuanced and constantly shifting benefits landscape.

However, employers shouldn’t fear the new normal — they should embrace it. Modern family-building solutions create a culture of trust crucial to attracting and retaining top talent. And employers who prioritize their employees’ physical and mental health will ultimately reap the benefits of a more engaged workforce. Let’s discuss why and how.

Comprehensive Family-Building Coverage Attracts and Retains Top Talent

According to a 2015 Glassdoor survey, 79% of employees prefer new or additional benefits to a pay increase. And if anything, employees have paid more attention to benefit offerings in recent years. The pandemic and the Great Resignation, also known as “The Great Realization,” have left employees looking for jobs that help them reach personal growth goals.

In fact, top employees are more willing than ever to negotiate better benefits — and even decline a job if their offerings don’t stack up. Family-building benefits are an essential piece of the puzzle. Nearly half of U.S. employees (45%) cite fertility benefits, including IVF, surrogacy and adoption, as necessary when considering a new employer. Another 59% say that paid maternity and paternity leave are also important considerations. This suggests family-planning benefits have become a vital part of a comprehensive coverage plan.

The inclusion of family-building solutions can also benefit employee retention. For example, according to industry research, nearly 90% of women who undergo IVF fully paid for by their employee return to that employer after maternity leave. That’s compared to 50% of women who pay for fertility benefits out-of-pocket.

Fostering a work culture where employees want to sign on and stay long-term is critical, especially now. Almost all industries are experiencing a talent shortage, compounded by recession concerns that complicate daily operations. Hiring and retaining top employees allow organizations to realize their revenue goals. Beyond that, providing inclusive family-building benefits improves an enterprise’s relationship with its employees, allowing everyone to work at their full potential.

Family-Building Benefits Address Significant Gaps in Employee Health

Traditional insurance plans don’t cover vital family-building solutions like postpartum care and maternity coaching or fertility services like in vitro fertilization (IVF) or egg freezing. Unfortunately, this means employees looking to start their families in non-traditional ways often spend thousands of dollars out-of-pocket. One round of IVF can cost a patient up to $30,000 — and most patients will need at least three rounds to become pregnant.

Additionally, many IVF patients benefit from fertility support (e.g. coaching and therapy sessions). Employees struggling to foot the bill for infertility support may opt out, even though these offerings can significantly benefit their mental health. This phenomenon — along with many other hormone- and family-related stressors — contributes to high levels of anxiety and depression in the workplace, which can quickly convert a well-intentioned work culture into a toxic environment. No employee should be forced to choose between personal happiness and financial wellness. Moreover, depression in the workplace contributes to $51 billion in losses related to absenteeism and productivity loss each year.

It should be noted that inclusive family-building benefits support all employees and their partners, not just those looking to start a family. For example, leading health plans offer access to critical services like gender-affirming care through hormone replacement therapy (HRT), as well as additional parental benefits like adoption and surrogacy. These benefits create a more welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ employees, who are twice as likely to experience mental health challenges.

Finally, family-building benefits give employees access to care that saves lives. The U.S. has the highest maternal mortality rate in the developed world, and more than half of maternal deaths are preventable with the correct care. Proper aftercare and maternity coaching are baked into leading family-building benefits platforms. Birthing persons who take advantage of these solutions have access to leading specialists who advocate for appropriate pre- and postpartum care, which can contribute to a more informed pregnancy process.

Our current healthcare system is unsustainable for many reasons. Family-building solutions bridge the gap in access to allow all employees to operate healthily, both from a physical and mental vantage point.

What Does a Cohesive Family Plan Look Like?

A modern benefits package might look different from company to company. Ideally, employers should provide their employees with a family-building platform that prioritizes all aspects of mental and physical health, including fertility options, hormone therapy and travel reimbursement for out-of-network services. Otherwise, they risk alienating non-traditional parents and minority employees who seek specialized treatment.

HR leaders should consider speaking to employees about which benefits matter most to them. Although a relatively small percentage of employees may take advantage of family-building benefits, leaders should remember those benefits will have an outsized impact on those employees’ lives. And in many cases, providing essential family-building solutions can be transformative — both for employees and the organization.

Jeni Mayorskaya is the founder and CEO of Stork Club, a next-generation benefits provider that helps enterprises attract diverse top talent, drive better clinical outcomes and reduce their largest area of healthcare cost — maternity care. Stork Club has raised over $32M and is backed by leading healthcare investors, including General Catalyst, Bowery Capital and Slow Ventures. Before founding Stork Club, Jeni co-founded Bookmate, an award-winning cross-platform e-library, and served in several strategic marketing and consulting roles. Jeni brings more than 15 years of strategic leadership experience to the Stork Club team and is inspired by her personal connection to the cause: early in her career, she was diagnosed with reproductive health disorders that carried a risk of infertility. After hearing this same story from hundreds of other women, Jeni started Stork Club with the mission to enable people to take control of their reproductive health and be empowered to build a family on their own terms.

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