Providing competitive work-family employee benefits has become a business imperative. A recent survey by Ovia Health revealed that 94% of employees consider family benefits to be “important” or “extremely important.” Furthermore, nearly 75% of respondents indicated they would consider changing jobs for improved family benefits.
Despite this clear shift in employee priorities, many employers have yet to respond adequately. According to the same study, over 60% of employees do not view their current workplace as family-friendly—up from 40% in 2023. Additionally, more than 40% rated their company’s current work-family benefits as a “C” or lower.
This gap presents a strategic opportunity for employers to gain a competitive edge by enhancing their work-family benefit offerings for 2025. Employers can stay ahead of this trend by adopting four major themes emerging from 2024.
1. Employees Are Giving Paid Leave Top Priority (More Than Employers Realize).
According to 2024 MetLife data, Gen Z workers are the first generation to prioritize paid leave over all other employee benefits, even more than health insurance. A notable 69% of Gen Z employees consider paid leave a “must have.”
Paid parental leave has shifted from being a perk to an expectation. Employees are now seeking comparator data to guide their job decisions, specifically looking into parental leave plans. This growing demand also reflects an increased interest in paid leave for secondary caregivers, such as partners of birth parents, as well as adoptive, foster, and non-birthing parents.
However, many employers have yet to acknowledge the heightened value that employees place on paid leave.
A commissioned survey by Forbes Advisor asked U.S. employees to rank the benefits they value most and compared those responses to the benefits employers most commonly offer. The two lists were largely in sync, with one significant exception: mandatory paid time off.
2. Rising Expectations for Reproductive Healthcare Benefits.
Significant majority of the U.S. workforce by 2025, are setting higher expectations for employers when it comes to reproductive health benefits. This growing demand is expected to have a major impact on employee recruitment and retention.
Over 60% of Millennial and Gen Z workers stated that fertility and pregnancy benefits are critically important when choosing a new job, according to a 2023 survey by HRC Fertility. Additionally, employees are seeking expanded healthcare coverage for prenatal and maternity care.
As early as 2021, 88% of workers indicated they’d be willing to switch jobs for access to fertility benefits, according to a survey by Carrot Fertility and RESOLVE. In 2024, demand continues to rise for in-vitro fertilization, fertility testing for both women and men, and other fertility-related diagnostic services and treatments. This trend is partly driven by increasing reproductive healthcare costs and women delaying motherhood.
Employees are also demanding comprehensive support for abortion-related healthcare, including paid time off, as well as travel and lodging expenses for out-of-state abortion access and recovery.
These rising expectations for reproductive health benefits align with recent legislative developments that increase employer obligations. Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act went into effect. This Act requires private-sector employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for employees impacted by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions, unless it presents an undue hardship.
Although facing legal challenges, the EEOC’s regulations clarify that the Act’s accommodation requirements also apply to employees undergoing or recovering from an abortion. Workplace accommodations including time off may also be necessary for fertility treatments or recovery from a miscarriage.
A new California law, effective in 2024, mandates private-sector employers with five or more employees to offer up to five days off following a miscarriage. In an Ovid survey, 53% of workers expressed a strong preference for leave following pregnancy loss, yet only 5% had access to this benefit. Employers recognizing this need are beginning to update their bereavement leave policies to specifically include time off for reproductive loss.
While 2024 laws set a baseline, employee demand demonstrates considerable opportunity for employers to gain a competitive edge by offering more comprehensive reproductive health benefits in 2025.
3. Menopause – A Wider Prospective.
In May, actress Halle Berry made a powerful statement at the U.S. Capitol, shouting to a cheering crowd, “I’m in menopause, ok? Why should business leaders pay attention? Because this iconic moment spotlighted a larger movement among U.S. women to destigmatize menopause and demand better workplace support for this natural life stage.
Women aged 45 to 64 account for nearly 20% of the U.S. labor. Women at the peak of their careers are an irreplaceable part of the talent pool, especially as the younger workforce continues to shrink.
Recognizing this growing trend, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) included questions about menopause benefits in its Employee Benefits Survey for the first time—one of the longest-running annual surveys on employee benefits in the U.S.
The good news for employers is that this trend represents a win-win situation. Menopause-related employee benefits deliver a strong return on investment (ROI), improving recruiting, retention, and brand ambassadorship, boosting productivity, reducing absenteeism, and advancing gender equity and women’s leadership.
Building a menopause-friendly workplace also helps minimize the risk of legal claims for menopause-related discrimination or lack of accommodation. Courts are increasingly recognizing menopause-related symptoms as protected under various discrimination laws due to their connection to sex, age, and temporary disability.
While the law sets a baseline, employers stand to benefit greatly by investing in menopause-related support. There has been a surge in health benefits specialists offering menopause-related workplace packages, training, and resources such as Carrot Fertility, Electra Health, Gennev, Maven, Midi, Ovia Health, and Winona which makes menopause workplace support more accessible to a broader range of employers.
4. Growing Demand for Work-Family Benefits Transparency.
As the demand for work-family benefits continues to rise, so does the call for greater corporate transparency. “Transparency is becoming an increasingly important topic,” said Samantha Prince, a professor at Penn State Dickinson Law, in an email.
This shift is rooted in the pay transparency movement over the past five years. In an effort to close the gender pay gap, several states and cities have enacted laws requiring employers to disclose salary ranges and pay scales to current and prospective employees. However, these laws don’t mandate the disclosure of employee benefits, which make up about 30% of the average worker’s paycheck, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Thanks to pay transparency laws in some areas, the topic is gaining momentum,” Prince noted. “But transparency must go beyond salary to include vital information about benefits. Without transparency, employees can’t effectively compare companies and make informed decisions about where to work.”
This is why “benefits transparency” has become a key issue for 2024.
The call for transparency has particularly focused on work-family benefits, which can differ significantly among companies, even within the same industry. “With more data, women can make better-informed choices about where to work based on the family and reproductive care benefits they need,” said Prince.
The push for transparency has been further amplified by public campaigns urging companies to share their work-family benefits.
One example is the Skimm’s #ShowUsYourLeave initiative, which created a public database detailing the paid leave policies of over 500 companies. Building on this success, Moms First partnered with theSkimm to launch the #ShowUsYourChildcare campaign, while Rhia Ventures introduced its own #WhatAreYourReproBenefits initiative.
These campaigns have been so effective that many companies now promote their involvement on social media to attract talent. As more data is made public, employers that do not participate in these initiatives may face increasing challenges in recruiting top candidates.
Researchers are also developing more advanced tools to compile and present data, making it easier for workers to compare benefits across organizations. In 2024, Hillary Cookler, a PhD candidate at UCLA Anderson School of Management, launched a database rating the top 500 U.S. public companies based on the transparency and quality of their paid parental leave plans.
Her research revealed that companies that embrace transparency tend to offer more generous parental leave policies. Job candidates who prioritize parental leave may view a lack of transparency as a warning sign regarding the company’s overall benefits.
Furthermore, employees may interpret a lack of benefits transparency as a sign that a company is not committed to work-family balance. According to Prince, job candidates see employee benefits as a reflection of a company’s values. Therefore, employers who stay ahead of work-family benefits trends can signal their commitment to attracting and retaining talented workers in the year ahead.
