Some health benefits for women rise while others fall, survey reveals
Posted July 14, 2017
According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s newly released Employee Benefits Survey, 30 percent of organizations currently provide paid maternity leave beyond what is covered by short-term disability or state law, an increase from 26 percent in 2016.
Fewer employers on the other hand — 24 percent — offer paternity leave.
However, while some benefits are on the rise, others are on the decline. For example, contraceptive coverage has decreased by 7 percentage points compared to just five years ago.
Related findings:
- Two-thirds of women (66 percent) use all paid maternity leave, while far fewer male employees used all available paternity leave. In fact, female employees were almost twice as likely as male to use all parental/family leave.
- On-site lactation rooms (42 percent) increased 8 percentage points compared with 2013.
- 75 percent of employers said they offer contraceptive coverage compared to 82 percent in 2013.
- Only one-quarter (24 percent) of employers offer in-vitro fertilization coverage compared to 30 percent in 2013.
- Only one quarter (26 percent) of employers offer infertility treatment coverage other than in-vitro fertilization.
The survey polled 3,227 HR professionals from a randomly selected sample of SHRM’s membership.
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