Dive Brief:
- Employee-benefits provider Unum is now providing its own employees with a one-time $25,000 adoption assistance benefit.
- "Adoption is an important avenue to consider for people growing their families, but it can be expensive," Liz Ahmed, executive vice president of People and Communications at Unum, said in a press release. "Offering financial support to employees expanding their families is another way we can help working parents thrive."
- Unum also provides a $25,000 infertility benefit, as well as six weeks of paid parental leave after the birth, adoption or fostering of a child.
Dive Insight:
Many employers are boosting their fertility and adoption benefits as a means of attracting and retaining top talent.
Starbucks' Family Expansion Reimbursement program, for example, helps part-time and full-time employees with expenses related to adoption, surrogacy and intrauterine insemination. And investment advisory firm TIAA offers in vitro fertilization benefits to female couples, following discussions with its LGBT resource group.
It's clear that family planning benefits are in demand. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 1 in 8 couples has trouble conceiving or sustaining a pregnancy, and Allied Market Research previously predicted that in vitro fertilization would be a $21.6 billion business globally by 2020.
In response, employers are increasingly offering "family-friendly benefits," including fertility benefits, to try and keep talent around in the long run. Such benefits could be playing a role in Starbucks' low turnover rate — about 65% in 2018, compared to the average restaurant industry turnover rate of 150% to 400%.
