Why COVID is making fertility benefits more popular

While coronavirus upended future plans for employees, one area has experienced a boon in the employee benefit space: fertility benefits.

According to data from WINFertility, a fertility and family planning benefits provider, there has been a surge in utilization for benefits like egg freezing, adoption, surrogacy and other fertility-related services.

“There seems to be a focus on family and family services, which is perhaps one of the positive things that's come out of such a difficult time,” says Peter Nieves, chief commercial officer at WINFertility. “[Employees] want to make sure they're preserving their ability to build their family when the timing is more appropriate.”

Read more: Why workers are turning to their employers to help them have a baby

As employers plan for the coming year, boosting fertility benefits should be at the top of their lists. Currently, just 18% of employers offer in vitro fertilization support, and 19% offer fertility benefits other than IVF, according to data from the Society for Human Resource Management. Companies including Ava, a digital women’s health company, PwC and Starbucks have expanded their family planning benefits in 2020, pointing to demand across industries for greater access to these resources.

Nieves shares why fertility benefits continued to be widely used during COVID, and how employers can implement these programs in 2021.

How has COVID impacted fertility and family planning?

The primary issue with COVID was the shutdown of elective surgeries, which also impacted individuals who were looking to start their [fertility] cycles. So for a couple of months, many individuals delayed their start during that time. Toward the end of the year, there was a surge in people looking to start and also rushing to get their benefits because they were concerned with job loss.

There has been continued interest throughout the year at levels that are higher than we've ever seen. Individuals are concerned with losing their jobs and losing access to the benefit and want to take advantage of it now. There’s also been a surge in groups utilizing egg freezing. There’s been a lot of focus on people building their families and making sure they're preserving their ability to do so when their perceived timing is more appropriate.

How are employers responding to the increase in utilization and demand?

The primary drivers of interest and demand by employees have been fueled by people choosing to start families later in life, as well as some of the issues that have been contributing to infertility related to male factors. All of these things are leading companies to look at satisfying employee needs.

Also, while there is a need for these benefits, there’s more sophistication and understanding about the costs associated with a lack of benefits; like a lack of productivity and increased medical costs for newborns. Those costs could be avoided if an organization has a benefit that is properly managed by an organization like WIN.

What trends are you anticipating in 2021 when it comes to fertility and family planning benefits?

There’s been an increase in the number of companies that are offering it across all industries, company sizes and geographies. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in complimentary services that support families. We're also seeing a large portion of our client base looking to provide financial support for adoption and surrogacy so they can offer a family planning benefit that’s available to all of their employee population.

As the economy comes back, we will likely be back in another low unemployment situation and attracting and retaining key employees is important. Fertility benefits are the second benefit of interest employees have. There’s a lot of upsides to it: the management of these programs and the actual programs often pay for themselves through gains in productivity and the elimination of other [healthcare] costs.