One VP of HR explains why her firm offers an impressive perk which could impact staff for the rest of their life.
From on-site masseurs to unlimited vacation time, employee benefits have become increasingly creative over the past few years – but just how many could impact a worker’s life forever?
Start-up firm Domo offers at least one – it’s among a growing number of companies to provide their workforce with a variety of fertility benefits including IVF, embryo transfer, and egg freezing.
While the benefit might sound unusual to some, VP of HR Cathy Donahoe says it was introduced because it could have a real and meaningful impact on employees within the organisation.
“One of my roles in HR is to develop wellness programs that recognise key areas that are most important to our employees and to identify the benefits that they want,” Donahoe tells HRM.
“Most of our employees are starting or building their families, which makes offering family benefits very important to them and a key priority for us,” she adds.
A range of resources fall under the umbrella of family benefits with Domo’s 800 plus employees also able to access surrogacy and adoption advice as well as diagnostic tests and ultrasounds.
The fertility suite is just the latest parenting-related benefit offered by the organisation which already gives all new parents $1,000 as well as paid time off for maternity and paternity leave.
“We’ve also looked for non-traditional ways to help our new moms through pregnancy and a unique benefit we offer is the Haute Mama benefit,” reveals Donahoe.
The enviable perk provides a $2,000 grant to expectant female staff to spend on maternity clothes at outlets such as ASOS and Nordstrom.
“If companies want to remain competitive and attract the best possible talent to improve their workforce, they will need to look at adopting benefits that will make people want to come and work for their company, or stay in the company for that matter,” says Donahoe.
While the impressive variety of benefits will undoubtedly help attract and retain talent, they also stand as testament to the organisational culture – in this case, one which doesn’t force women to choose between their career and their kids.
“Women have it hard enough trying to balance the struggles of being a mom while also wanting to advance in their career. By showing them that we care about their families, their future families, and honestly just their overall future, it shows that we are really investing in them as a valuable employee and asset,” says Donahoe. “Hopefully this will help give them peace of mind when it comes to their working mother responsibilities.”
While the benefit is aimed at employees who want to start a family, Donahoe says she’s received positive feedback from workers who have no interest in using the perk.
“One of my favorite moments was actually when we rolled out Progyny,” she tells HRM. “We received so many emails with words of appreciation and gratitude, and even those employees who were not planning on accessing Progyny thanked us for offering it because they knew of families that couldn’t access or afford it on their own.”
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