Fertility benefits on the rise to help companies find, keep workers

When Facebook Inc. and Apple Inc. began offering egg-freezing benefits to employees in 2014, the move was seen as typical Silicon Valley.

The creative if unconventional perk helped attract and keep younger tech talent, but it was out of reach to all but a tiny slice of the U.S. workforce.

Now, at a time when companies will do just about anything to recruit and retain workers, fertility benefits have gone from novelty to a must-have for many companies.

Thanks to the pandemic, which brought on today’s tight labor market, corporations have had to find unusual ways to attract and keep prized employees, said Rachael McCann, senior director at Willis Towers Watson, an insurance advisory and brokerage firm.

The fertility benefit has become one of the more popular approaches, she said. “It’s absolutely grown.”

In the U.S., demand for workers is far outstripping supply. There are currently about 1.8 open jobs for every unemployed worker, well above the pre-COVID ratio of 1.2. As a result, employers are ratcheting up pay and offering perks that were unheard of prior to 2020 — including covering college tuition and paying bonuses to employees who don’t miss work.

Employers are also offering plusher healthcare packages, including providing expanded mental-health coverage, to compete for talent.

Companies are finding that fertility benefits are increasingly popular among female employees — particularly those between the ages of 25 and 40. The benefit is also important for couples with a diagnosis of infertility, same-sex couples and single individuals, as well as those who have been unable to conceive naturally or are starting families later in life.

“In the five years before the pandemic, we saw a lot of interest but not a lot of buying,” said Kate Ryder, chief executive officer of Maven Clinic, a family planning provider whose clients include Snap Inc., BuzzFeed Inc. and Boston Scientific Corp.

The loss of valuable staff in the so-called “Great Resignation,” the desire to provide more help to burnt-out parents, and the push to have more-inclusive workplaces all led companies to consider fertility benefits, she said. “Now everyone’s buying.”

Survey data from workforce consultant Mercer showed that as late as 2015, just under a quarter of large employers (500 or more employees) covered IVF. But in 2020, the figure rose to 27%. And last year, it jumped to 36%.

The breadth of companies offering fertility benefits has also spread far beyond tech. Carrot Fertility, a global fertility-benefits provider, mostly saw interest from companies also in financial services and consulting prior to the pandemic, said Chief Executive Officer Tammy Sun.

In the last two years, Carrot has added clients in the food and beverage, retail, automotive and manufacturing industries. They’re also working with labor unions and municipalities. Revenue has grown by about 400% in the last year, Sun said.

As more Americans postpone starting families, fertility benefits have become “one of the most important talent retention and attraction tools on the table,” said Sun.