In 2024, workers made it abundantly clear that work-family employee benefits have become an expectation rather than optional perk. This year, 94% of workers described family benefits as "important" or "extremely important," in a survey by Ovia Health. Over 70% of workers said they'd switch companies for better family benefits.
Companies cannot ignore employees' shifting priorities around work-family benefits without impacting recruiting and retention. Employers are particularly falling behind in three trending areas: reproductive and maternal health, paid leave, and menopause support.
In the past, lack of comparator data from inadequate transparency has made it challenging for employers to stay aligned with best practices. Heading into the new year, five resources can empower companies to benchmark, improve, and invest in work-family benefits to remain competitive in 2025.
RMH Compass is a nonprofit that establishes performance standards for employers to evaluate their reproductive and maternal health employee benefits.
"Research shows that reproductive and maternal health care benefits are universally popular and desired, regardless of workers' gender, age, or politics," said Founder and CEO Flory Wilson, in an interview. "So the goal of RMH Compass is to build the business case for these benefits and equip companies with the performance insights they need to ensure that the health and well-being of their workforce is promoted and protected."
RMH Compass invites employers to submit a free, online, confidential diagnostic survey about their current reproductive and maternal health benefits ranging from menstruation to menopause. Participating companies receive performance feedback in an individualized report that scores their benefits against comparators.
RMH Compass aggregates and anonymizes the data to provide benchmarks for similar-sized companies within the same industry. Participating employers also receive actionable recommendations to improve their benefits plans. RMH keeps all company data confidential, so there is no downside to participation.
In 2025, RMH Compass will launch the RMH@Work Leaders Badge. Companies that meet best-in-class standards can opt-in to receive a digital badge. The badge can be used on a company's website or other materials to demonstrate to stakeholders the company's commitment to reproductive and maternal health benefits.
Companies may also access The 2024 RMH@WorkCorporate Index, which analyzes data on the reproductive and maternal health benefits of the 100 largest U.S. companies, ranked by headcount. These companies collectively employ over 21 million workers. So this Index offers valuable insights on best practices, enabling employers to benchmark their own performance and identify potential improvements.
The RMH Compass website offers a resource library with data, case studies, and business case reports for contraceptive benefits, paid family and sick leave, fertility and family formation benefits, and lactation accommodation. The website also offers free sample policies, ranging from doula benefits to bereavement leave covering pregnancy loss.
JUST Capital is a nonprofit organization that provides data-driven resources to improve corporate performance for stakeholders, including workers. JUST Capital offers a variety of resources for companies to benchmark their work-family benefits and ensure they are responding to worker priorities in 2025.
"For JUST Capital, the organizational north star is the American public's priorities for corporate behavior. These priorities guide us in developing tools and resources, and in building partnerships with some of the largest U.S. employers -- all with the aim of creating value for stakeholders and enhancing business performance," said Kelley-Frances Fenelon, JUST Capital Director of Corporate Action and Research, via email.
Companies can benchmark work-family benefits using the JUST Jobs Scorecard, an interactive online database covering Russell 1000 companies. Users can compare companies on a range of benefits, including subsidized childcare, backup dependent care, and paid parental leave for both primary and secondary caregivers.
JUST Capital recently launched the Corporate Care Network, which uses a membership model to connect and support companies committed to investing in work-family benefits like paid leave, flexible work, and childcare support. The Network offers individualized analysis of a company's existing policies, access to a partner network of advisors and care experts, and participation in a peer community where executives share innovative benefits ideas.
Comparator data on paid parental leave policies has been notoriously sparse due to lack of corporate transparency. Only 51% of the 500 largest U.S. public companies confirm on their website whether they offer paid parental leave, and just 34% of their websites contain policy details, according to 2024 research by Hillary Cookler, PhD candidate and researcher at UCLA Anderson School of Management.
To fill this void, Cookler gathered data from multiple sources to create an online database that ranks the 500 largest U.S. companies on both the transparency and quality of their paid parental leave. The database revealed a surprising variation in paid parental leave policies among large companies, even within industries.
This new database enables employees to identify top-performing large companies on paid parental leave. It also provides employers a valuable resource for reviewing their own policies for 2025. "For firms, transparency in paid parental leave policies enables better benchmarking against peers, allowing them to establish more competitive and informed policies," said Cooker, via email.
Companies seeking to assess their work-family benefits for 2025 can also take advantage of theSkimm's public transparency campaigns. As a digital media company, theSkimm's target audience is women. But two of its initiatives have resulted in valuable databases for companies to assess the competitiveness of their work-family benefits.
TheSkimm launched its #ShowUsYourLeave initiative in 2022, urging companies to voluntarily disclose their paid leave policies. The organization has compiled the resulting data from over 500 companies' paid leave policies into a user-friendly online database.
Moms First then teamed up with theSkimm to launch a follow-up #ShowUsYourChildCare initiative. This campaign is building a growing database on companies' employee childcare resources, including onsite childcare facilities, subsidized childcare benefits, backup childcare, and dependent care flexible spending accounts.
Companies with competitive family benefits often tout their participation in these initiatives on social media as a recruiting and retention tool. And all companies can gain from having more accessible comparator data to improve their own paid leave and childcare benefits plans.
Rhia Ventures leverages capital to advance reproductive and maternal health equity. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022, Rhia Ventures responded to employers' requests to learn about best practices for supporting women employees.
As part of that response, Rhia Ventures launched the #WhatAreYourReproBenefits campaign, which compiled public data on abortion care coverage on over 250 private sector employers. The resulting online database provides key insights on employer best practices, including communications affirming abortion access, policies covering abortion-related travel, paid time off for abortion travel and recovery, and support for reproductive health care, rights, or justice organizations.
The number of workers who want access to abortion care benefits significantly exceeds the number of employers that provide these benefits, according to a 2023 Mercer survey report. With this increasing demand, the Rhia Ventures database will be critical for employers to maintain competitive benefits in 2025.
Rhia Ventures also offers comprehensive reports documenting the business case for reproductive and maternal health care and benefits, which are a win-win for both employees and employers.