American firms lure recruits with fertility treatment

With the tightest US labour market in two decades, employers are scouring for ways to stand out in the war for top talent.

Companies are turning to bigger and better fertility treatment benefits to help lure the best and the brightest.

With the tightest US labour market in two decades, employers are scouring for ways to stand out in the war for top talent. Many say they’ve found an edge not just by helping employees pay for costly in-vitro fertilisation and other assisted-reproduction treatments but by making existing coverage more generous and accessible.

“If we’re going to meet our (headcount) growth projections, we have to be really competitive,” says Meghan Lapides, human resources chief at location technology company Foursquare, which recently expanded its fertility coverage to include any fertility-related treatment, such as egg freezing, and ensure same-sex couples and single would-be parents also can use the benefit.

Sixty-six per cent of employers plan to offer fertility benefits by next year, according to a January survey by advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. That is up from 55 per cent last year. The survey included about 400 companies with a total seven million workers.

Of employers already offering financial assistance, 81 per cent said the benefits would apply to same-sex couples next year, compared with 65 per cent last year.

Those boosting coverage cited wanting to better recruit and retain people as their top reasons.

Image-sharing platform Pinterest increased its IVF coverage to $US20,000 last year from a maximum OF $US5000 in 2016. Since January, it offers up to four IVF cycles over a lifetime, which in many US cities would cost between $US50,000 ($63,680) and $US75,000. American Express boosted its lifetime maximum benefit for infertility treatments to $US35,000 from $US20,000 last year, while business software giant SAP expanded its coverage from a maximum $US15,000 to two IVF cycles, while continuing to offer up to $US15,000 towards fertility drug costs.

Before September last year, Foursquare offered $US10,000 in fertility-treatment coverage. It has since changed the benefit so employees don’t have to establish infertility as a precondition to use it, meaning more workers can take advantage. A lesbian couple, for instance, could use the benefit for IVF, or a single woman could access it for egg freezing.

A survey in November last year by FertilityIQ, a website for people to review and search for fertility doctors and clinics, suggests such efforts make a difference in how workers feel about their employers.

More than 60 per cent of IVF patients whose employers helped shoulder the cost said the benefit made them likelier to stay in their jobs longer, while 53 per cent said they were more willing to overlook shortcomings at their companies as a result.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL