Family benefits shouldn’t start with the birth of a baby: Top takeaways for your 2021 benefits strategy

When we set out to partner with Great Place to Work® on the largest-ever survey of working parents, we had a hunch based on our work with leading employers: what differentiates the best companies for parents from their peers is that their benefits and support programs go beyond traditional paid leave. Of course, parental leave is critical but it’s only one piece of the puzzle to attract and retain top talent, and realize the revenue growth that top workplaces for parents do. 

What we found in our new report is that not only are the Best Workplaces for Parents™ providing better leave, they are supporting employees throughout the entire journey of planning and raising a family. From fertility coverage to return-to-work coaching after parental leave and support finding childcare, the Best Workplaces are investing in benefits that provide continuous care and holistic support for parents at every stage of the journey. ‍

As you consider your benefits strategy for 2021, take a page out of the playbook from the Best Workplaces for Parents™ with these top four takeaways from our new report.

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Takeaway #1: Fertility benefits are table stakes, and employers need to provide holistic support.  

Our new report reveals 81% of Best Workplaces are providing reimbursement for fertility treatments. 

And that’s only increasing: Over the past three years, nearly half have increased their coverage.

Why? One in eight couples are affected by fertility struggles, according to the CDC, and the average cost of fertility treatments is extremely high at $23,000 on average per IVF cycle. What’s more: 68% of millennials consider fertility coverage when choosing an employer. 

What we’ve found at Maven is that the most supportive workplaces for parents take a holistic view of fertility benefits and have designed their fertility benefits to reflect the need for financial support as well as emotional and wellness support, and care navigation throughout the entire fertility journey. 

For each individual, this means different things but here’s what Maven Fertility members are most often looking for, based on our onboarding survey of members: 

• Understanding what to expect from the fertility experience
• Finding a high-quality fertility clinic
• Emotional support 
• Other physical health support like access to nutritionists 
• Navigating financial support 
• Guidance on strategies for getting pregnant naturally
• Exploring all other options to add a child to their family
  

“Having a mental health provider who specializes in fertility is an amazing benefit. It has been wonderful to be able to rely on mental health support whenever I needed it, and to have somebody provide support that’s specific to fertility, and the struggles and challenges this entails—because it’s a very specific type of trauma to go through.” - Mo, Maven Fertility member

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Takeaway #2: Better parental leave policies remain a major differentiator for attracting and retaining talent. 

Parental leave is lacking in the United States, leaving mothers and fathers to sacrifice income to spend time with their newborn babies. The Best Workplaces for Parents™ are filling in the gaps. And that’s a huge differentiator for attracting top talent. 

Paid parental leave doesn’t just help growing families—it helps close the wage gap and allows parents to bring their best selves back to work. Our new report reveals that working mothers lose nearly a month of income on average when supplementing their allotted maternity leave, adding a financial burden to the physical and emotional challenges they face as new parents. This is why the amount of paid leave matters—and why Best Workplaces are providing more days to all parents. 

Indeed, Best Workplaces are also making gains in supporting fathers in taking leave. Over the past year, these companies have increased paid paternal leave by 10 days and saw an average 6 days increase in usage by fathers. 

This new data proves that companies with generous leave policies see both mothers and fathers taking more time—ensuring women don’t leave money on the table and that caregiving is a family affair. It’s a win-win for employees and employers, closing the wage gap and driving retention. 

Takeaway #3: Employees need more support around the critical return-to-work transition. 

Leading companies know that the return-to-work transition is key to retaining your employees. According to our new report, the Best Workplaces are offering holistic support to address some key pain points for their employees: 

• 49% of Best Workplaces provide telemedicine for pregnant and postpartum families 
• 48% provide employees access to return-to-work career coaching
• 52% offer support through breast milk shipping
  

Companies that invest in paid parental leave without comprehensive return-to-work support are leaving money on the table: 43% of women leave their jobs within one year of having a baby, meaning the national average return-to-work rate is 57%. But 90% of Maven members return to work. 

This matters. By providing return-to-work support to all employees, you’re acknowledging that this first year of a baby’s life is a major life transition period. It’s often challenging for families to adjust to new routines, being away from baby, navigating common postpartum physical and mental health needs, pumping at work, setting sleep schedules, and so much more.

With 24/7, on-demand access to doctors and specialists like lactation consultants, career coaches, infant sleep coaches, pediatricians, parenting coaches, and maternal mental health specialists, Maven meets new parents where they are so they feel confident at work. 

“Because of Maven and the providers I met with, I have a plan for going back to work, and I didn’t have to figure that out on my own. It also means so much to know that if it doesn't work or if something is too hard when I do return, I can pop right back on Maven.” - MaryEllen, Maven member

Takeaway #4: Childcare support is more important than ever before. 

The Best Workplaces are stepping up with comprehensive support for working parents as they raise their families: 

• 78% help employees with finding childcare 
• 61% have parent ERGs 
• 56% provide backup childcare
  

The pandemic has revealed what we at Maven have always known to be true: working parents need our help, no matter how old their child is. 40% of working parents have changed their employment situation since the onset of COVID-19 and, according to recent research, one in four women are considering downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce due to COVID-19 and childcare or virtual learning. For any company seeking to attract and retain diverse talent, this is a crisis threatening to roll back decades of progress. 

Helping working parents take care of their families at home allows them to be focused and engaged at work. And it makes sense that Best Workplaces for Parents™ are investing in helping employees find childcare: Maven recently commissioned a survey of 1,000 U.S. parents and found that more than half of working parents do not feel supported by their employers right now as they navigate childcare challenges. From daycare, to sitters, to virtual care, to pods, to tutoring, parents need help assessing their options and want access to experts and specialists to help them decide what’s best for their family. 

Maven recently introduced our new Parenting & Pediatrics product, the first family health solution to integrate support for parents with specialized pediatric care to improve behavioral and clinical outcomes for parents and children. With the addition of our Parenting & Pediatrics product, Maven is now supporting parents from the time they’re thinking about starting a family (via Maven Planning) through every step to the time their child is ten years old. 

Maven has always believed that having a more integrated family health model—that starts with fertility and maternity care, and continues on to help through early childhood—is core to giving families the support they need to be successful at work and at home. 

And the latest data from the Best Workplaces for Parents™ proves that this type of support is more important than ever.

Want to learn more about what differentiates the Best Workplaces for Parents™? Download our report for data-driven strategies to bring to your company. 

“I love the fact that an employee has continuous support from Maven through the entire cycle of starting a family.”  - Bryan Aycock, Director of Benefits, Zynga