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With the U.S. labor market more competitive over the past few years than any time in recent memory, brokers and advisors have been on the lookout for creative approaches to building a high-performance workforce on behalf of their employer clients.

One key trend has been incorporating affordable family-forming programs into employee benefit packages. It has proven to be a winning formula for talent management given how the family unit has undergone dramatic change. Households now include same-sex partners, single parenthood and working women who become parents later in life with the help of fertility treatments, adoption or surrogacy. The desire to have children transcends all backgrounds.

Recognizing DEI and SDoH

The expanded definition of family aligns seamlessly with the growing emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, shining a spotlight on health equity issues in the process. As the conversation broadens, it becomes crucial to address the specific challenges faced by individuals battling sickle cell disease, a condition predominantly affecting the Black community. Sickle cell patients, already contending with health disparities, encounter unique challenges when it comes to fertility care. Black families experience adverse social determinants of health (SDoH), which will command the attention of employers that are genuinely concerned about health equity alongside DEI.

From natural conception to IVF

There are many options for building families today. They include getting pregnant on your own, simple fertility treatments, more sophisticated assisted reproductive technology (ART) procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and options such as donor sperm, eggs and embryos, surrogacy and adoption. Modern fertility care can help almost everyone achieve their dream of parenthood.