Designing fertility benefits for tech employees: How to support diverse paths to parenthood

Tech employers are adding fertility benefits to attract and retain millennial and Gen-Z talent in the workforce. Although more employers in the tech industry are offering family-building and fertility benefits, many plans are still only covering limited fertility services, like in vitro fertilization (IVF) or egg freezing. While those services may fulfill the needs of some, it's essential to expand fertility coverage to be inclusive of all employees and support all, no matter their path to and through parenthood.

Crafting comprehensive fertility benefits for tech employees

Understanding the varied fertility needs in the tech sector

Your employees need different types of support when building their families based on their unique backgrounds and identities.

• Gender: Infertility currently impacts 1 in 8 couples in the U.S., which is expected to increase as individuals wait longer to start families. 20% of infertility is caused by male factor infertility, and 30% to 40% are caused by both partners.
• Race: Infertility is more likely to affect Black and Latine people, and they face worse maternal health outcomes than their white counterparts. 
• Sexual orientation and gender identity: LGBTQIA+ people may look to become parents through fertility treatments, adoption, or surrogacy. 
• Marital status: Single people are also affected—many individuals want to take control of their reproductive future through fertility preservation treatments, or may choose to start a family without a partner.
  

Conception journeys vary but often include physical, emotional, and financial challenges. It can also be an all-consuming process for many individuals, which leads to reduced productivity, increased absenteeism, and overall dissatisfaction at work. 

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That's why offering top-tier support and comprehensive, inclusive fertility benefits is vital to attracting and retaining the best talent.

What are fertility benefits for tech employees?

Fertility and family-building benefits should aim to provide extensive support for all individuals along their family-building journey. Clinical, emotional, and financial support are necessary for those seeking fertility treatments. 

Fertility benefits should encompass a wide spectrum of family-building needs, including:

• Fertility testing and consultations
• Hormone treatments
• IVF and IUI
• Egg and sperm freezing
• Surrogacy and adoption support
• Mental health assistance
• Financial support for fertility treatments, adoption, and surrogacy

Some fertility benefits focus on reimbursing hormone tests and IVF cycles. However, a truly comprehensive plan should cover a broader range of treatments. Focusing only on particular services might inadvertently lead employees to pursue interventions that may not be necessary. 

“There are so many emotional challenges that are involved in fertility treatments, so it wasn’t just a matter of adding fertility coverage through our medical benefit plan,” says Debbie Westover, Senior Benefits Manager at SoFi. “Employees, in my opinion, really need to know that they are not alone and there is support available, and that’s not as easy as adding fertility onto the plan—there needed to be more.”

Choosing the right fertility benefits partner for your tech employees

What tech companies should look for in a fertility & family-building benefits vendor

With an abundance of companies offering different forms of fertility and family-building benefits, choosing a vendor that will truly support the needs of your workforce can feel overwhelming. 

Look for a partner that offers support in the following areas to ensure your fertility benefits are comprehensive. 

Inclusive coverage for all paths to parenthood

Because this time can affect every aspect of your employees’ lives, your benefits should be able to provide meaningful support for all their needs. Access to specialists, mental health support, reimbursement management, evidence-based content, and virtual classes all contribute to the bigger health picture. Quality partners will also support employees after their fertility journey, providing seamless support during pregnancy and beyond. 

Steerage to high-quality clinics

While digital platforms can provide wraparound support, employees still need to visit clinics in person for treatment and services. A fertility & family-benefits partner should have a trusted network of high-quality fertility clinics that they can refer employees to when pursuing services.

Holistic care management

One of the biggest challenges any benefits administrator faces is engagement: encouraging people to use and take advantage of the services at their disposal. A care manager guides your employees through their journey as a trusted advisor, recommending services, offering advice, and steering them toward the right care at the right time.

Evidence-based care model

An evidence-based care model focuses on fertility as a part of the greater family-building journey, aligning clinical, emotional, and financial needs to deliver outcomes. This type of care model is value-based, meaning it measures success in families built and supported rather than services rendered. 

Intuitive expense management

Managing fertility and family-building expenses can be complex for employers and employees alike. Benefit vendors should offer easy expense management for all parties.

For employees, they should be able to view upcoming expenses, manage payments, and submit receipts for reimbursement in one easy-to-navigate platform.

Employers should have a view into employee claims and expenses but also have the day-to-day claims management burden minimized as the vendor handles the majority of administrative work.

Maximizing employee engagement with fertility benefits

Once you decide to bring on better fertility benefits, the next step is encouraging employees to actually use the benefit. Involving employees in the process of identifying and evaluating new benefits solutions can help motivate them to engage down the road. 

Giving them a sense of ownership over the process and including their opinions when evaluating vendors can do wonders for enrollments. 

Here are a few ways to get employee buy-in for new fertility and family-building benefits:

• Solicit and act on feedback: Adding fertility benefits or piloting programs based on feedback from your employees shows them that not only does your organization care about their needs, but you’re also willing to address and invest in them. Parent ERGs can be a good place to start as you seek out feedback. 
• Hold roundtables and AMAs: Set up roundtable discussions with employee resource groups, or holding informal ask-me-anything (AMA) sessions about fertility can inspire employees to get more involved. During this process, you might identify employees who can serve as evangelists for your benefits.
• Get executive buy-in: If you’re adding a new benefit for parents like Maven, line up an executive sponsor or advocate. See if they’re willing to participate in an upcoming webinar, roundtable discussion, or company meeting. Not only does an executive endorsement provide another powerful story of why this benefit helps, it also shows that engaging with benefits is acceptable and encouraged.
• Collect and distribute internal resources: Create a simple internal hub, e.g. a wiki page, that can link to all your different communications, resources, and more, can help employees find what they need when they need it.

The business case for offering fertility benefits for employees

Attracting and retaining talent

The tech industry is a highly competitive space, where companies consistently strive to find and keep the best talent.

95% of tech employers report that family benefits are extremely important to prospective and current employees. Because of this, two-thirds of tech companies plan to increase their investment in family benefits over the next two to three years.  To stand out from the competition, a comprehensive family benefit package, including fertility and family building support, is key. 

“The lines between ‘home’ and ‘work’ are increasingly blurred, and the best employers are ranking family-friendly benefits as an essential component of their value proposition,” says Mary Ainsworth, EVP and Chief People Officer at Medallia. 

Simply put, companies not offering strong fertility and family building benefits risk losing the best talent. Competitors with better packages could lure them away. One-quarter of tech employees say their employer could better support their family and reproductive health needs, and 60% of employees have left or considered leaving a job because of inadequate family benefits.

Delivering on diversity, equity, and inclusion

There are many ways to start or build families, and your employees need support no matter their path to and through parenthood. While traditional fertility benefits may narrowly focus on treating infertility for heterosexual couples, the range of necessary support is far greater than that. 

LGBTQIA+ employees face extra hurdles in family care. Discrimination based on orientation or identity is common. Because of this, they may pay out-of-pocket for extremely costly fertility treatments, or shoulder exorbitant adoption or surrogacy fees. 

Some even opt to forgo trying to conceive because of the costs—63% of same-sex couples said that while they want to start families, they can't because traditional insurance wouldn't cover them. 

Black and Hispanic individuals can also experience discrimination and face steep obstacles to receiving fertility and family building care. Black women are more likely to report infertility compared with white women, and Black and Hispanic women are less likely than white women to access fertility care. 

These demographic groups are also less likely to have successful IVF cycles. Conversely, white women are the most likely group to receive treatment in general, suggesting race plays a significant role in the likelihood of treatment.

Fertility and family-building needs impact all sexual and gender identities, and companies committed to DEI cannot overlook the importance of supporting all employees on their path to parenthood. 

Why leading tech companies choose Maven to offer fertility benefits for their employees

The value of fertility benefits for employees can be proven time and time again. Up to 96% of Maven’s members are more loyal to their employers because of the benefits program implemented—a result seen by tech companies including Snowflake and Bumble.

Amazon also recently partnered with Maven to expand Amazon's family-building support program across the world to 50 countries outside the U.S. and Canada. The fertility benefits are available to full-time, part-time, and hourly Amazon employees. 

“Maven is an employee-friendly benefit that takes the guesswork out of the family-building process, which can often be confusing and overwhelming,” said Lian Neeman, global director of benefits at Amazon. “Our benefits are designed to care for all our employees’ needs, and that means ensuring they have the resources they need to live their best lives, regardless of their personal circumstances. Maven’s approach to fertility and family building supports our employees around the world and is tailored to each person.”

Employers can support all employees on their fertility journey with Maven

As you look for ways to offer comprehensive fertility & family-building support to your employees, Maven Clinic is here to help. We’re the leading global women’s and family healthcare company designed to deliver compassionate, equitable, and high-quality care through all family stages. Our innovative, 24/7 platform combined with our contracted Maven Performance Network Clinics offer members access to the clinical, emotional, and financial support they need to build their families and thrive.

To find out how Maven can support the fertility and family-building needs of your employees, contact us today.