Supporting your female workforce

Now is the perfect time for employers to evaluate how they support their female employees, especially mothers, following Mother’s Day. Forty-three percent of highly skilled women leave the workforce when they become mothers—with many who may not have wanted to leave their jobs but may have felt compelled to do so due to a lack of employer support.

Employers can further support their employees’ needs by providing adequate family-centric benefits.

How family-centric benefits can help your organization

Today, when the workforce demands sufficient work-life balance, providing these types of benefits is crucial to creating a workplace that fosters productivity and retains great talent to meet business goals. Offering family-centric benefits can help your organization in the following ways:

• Reducing employee turnover
• Increasing productivity and improving morale
• Enhancing the company’s reputation as a family-friendly employer
• Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion
• Improving the ability to recruit and retain multigenerational talent

Attracting & retaining skilled women

A wealth of family-centric benefits is available for employers to explore for attracting and retaining skilled women, including mothers. It can be as simple as implementing a flexible work schedule or as complex as investing in on-site daycare services. Other possible family-centric benefits include:

Family & parental leave: Surveys by insurance providers Unum and Breeze found that paid family leave is among the most desired employee benefits—more than fitness or mental health, vision insurance, or student loan repayment assistance. Consider incorporating paid parental leave—including paternity leave—extended unpaid leave, or a gradual return-to-work program to help new mothers feel supported as they navigate the balance between work and family.

Childcare assistance: Each year, childcare challenges result in an estimated $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue—impacting not only the parents, but your business’ bottom line. Two in five U.S. employees have a child under the age of 18 at home, so it’s crucial that employers offer benefits to address their childcare needs to benefit this significant portion of their workforce. Benefits that support working mothers can include childcare stipends, dependent care FSAs, and even on-site daycare services.

Fertility: Fertility treatments can be incredibly costly—a single round of in vitro fertilization (IVF), for example, can cost upwards of $30,000. Generation Z and younger millennials in the workforce may value employee benefits that give them support to build their family. Fertility benefits like fertility consultations and diagnostic tests can be incorporated into your organization’s health plan, and employers can also consider offering flexible working arrangements during treatments.

Adoption, surrogacy & fostering: Families interested in adoption, surrogacy, and fostering face a long, complex, and costly journey. Employers can support employees during this process through benefits like employee assistance programs (EAPs), legal support, and financial assistance. In addition to benefiting the employee, providing adoption support aligns with diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, as adoption is especially common in the LGBTQIA+ community.

Menopause support: A Mayo Clinic study found that American women lose an estimated $1.8 billion annually in working time due to menopause-related symptoms. It’s an often-overlooked area of health care, but the majority of women (64%) want menopause-specific benefits from their employer. For employers with an older workforce, consider menopause-focused benefits like temperature regulation in office spaces, confidential counseling services, and support groups.

Caregiver support: In addition to their own children, many women act as caregivers to elderly, sick or disabled family members. This can be a significant strain on an employee, resulting in one-third of caregivers leaving their jobs due to caregiving responsibilities. Employers can help support the caregivers in their workforce by offering expert medical and/or legal advice, flexible scheduling and paid backup care.

Implementing family-centric benefits

It’s important to consider your employees’ unique needs when implementing family-centric benefits. Does a particular generation make up a large portion of your workforce? What are their family needs? Generation Z employees may want to focus on fertility and adoption benefits, while millennials and Generation X would benefit more from childcare and caregiver support.

The best way to learn the needs of your employees is to ask them. Send out a survey to learn about their benefits preferences, and be sure to follow up once benefits are implemented to gather feedback.

Related: Supportive benefits for women

Once you have an idea of the benefits your employees want, work with a benefits broker or consultant to learn about the options available to your organization.

Benefits brokers can help you develop an implementation plan and can assist with navigating the legal and compliance requirements in your area.

Importantly, once you’ve implemented benefits, communicate the changes with your employees and provide training so they can understand how to make the most of these new benefits. Be sure to monitor the utilization of new benefits over time and consider feedback from your employees so you can pivot your plan accordingly.

By implementing family-centric benefits that focus on your employees’ work-life balance and wellbeing, your organization will communicate to employees that they are valued and supported through the many stages of their lives. In a work environment where attracting and retaining talented employees is critical, these benefits can make a difference in building a satisfied and effective workforce.

Cheri Wheeler, Vice President and Senior Consultant, Kelly Benefits Strategies