Family-Forming Benefits Add Value for Companies, Quality for Employees

The case for companies adding family-forming benefits for their workers can be persuasively summed up in two statistics. Surveys show that 70% of millennials would change jobs for fertility benefits and 97% of employers say adding infertility coverage did not significantly increase medical plan costs.

Considering both data points, Dr. David Adamson, founder, chairman and CEO of ARC Fertility, says there is plenty of value for companies looking to begin offering family-forming benefits for employees. 

And because of the low cost of adding fertility benefits to a medical plan, Adamson says companies do not need to worry about sacrificing quality in the interest of budget adherence.

One in seven couples will experience infertility at some point in their life, a problem that often leads to productivity, engagement and satisfaction issues for employees in the workplace.

Adamson utilizes his three decades of experience in the reproductive health field to help businesses increase family-forming benefits to raise morale and, in turn, employee efficiency.

“I’m delighted to see companies and employers paying attention to this important part of life,” he said during From Day One’s July virtual conference on family health. “This has become a really important topic in the past few years.”

Offering Employee Benefits

Due to the low cost and high importance of fertility health plans, Adamson said companies must provide options for quality care to employees and ensure that the costs of the programs are not prohibitive due to high deductibles or other out-of-pocket expenses.

“The end game is you still have to have good medical outcomes to have quality,” he said, adding that the flow of information to employees is essential when dealing with complex issues such as infertility.

“The health care system is complicated,” Adamson said. “It’s good to start out with an app to provide initial information, but employees need to be able to talk to someone one-on-one and find out their actual needs, because it’s so different for everyone.”

He also stressed the importance of fertility care among LGBTQ+ and single employees, who often seek the care at much higher rates — and can be helped by receiving fertility-minded guidance.

“Diet, exercise, and how I should be thinking in respect to my age if I’m single — it’s important,” he said. “If you might be planning a family later, what should you be doing now? There are general questions that can help people understand reproductive life later and help them make better choices.”

Value for Companies, Quality for Employees

Bundling care packages helps companies reduce the overhead and allow for high-quality care to be offered to a specific person to let them get precisely what they’re looking for out of a health program, Adamson says.

“This can help reduce maternity and NICU costs,” he said, adding that there is a lot of “hidden” waste in health costs for employers that can be reduced by offering fertility care.

He says companies that cover 1,000 employees will typically lose about $32,000 per year due to miscoding. “This is hidden in the general medical plan,” he said.

Small subsidies for employees can reduce those losses significantly, and Adamson says the recommended subsidy of about $20,000 per employee is known to cost companies only about $100 per employee for a year.

He said the addition of family-forming benefits by an employer is also considered a win on the public relations side of the business and often aligns with employees who want to work for an organization that supports diversity, equity and inclusion and the improvement of employees’ lives.

“These benefits can improve the emotional health of employees and increase their engagement,” he said.

Editor’s note: From Day One thanks its partner, ARC Fertility, who sponsored this thought leadership spotlight. 

Tim Zyla is the managing editor of a community newspaper in Pennsylvania and has a strong interest in business and finance.