Redefining Benefits Strategies for a Family-First Workforce
Managing the dynamic intersection of work and family life is one of the most pressing challenges facing executives today. Most employees have a common stressor—taking care of a family member—and the range of issues that entails across a multigenerational workforce can be huge, from children with specialized health care needs to older adults who increasingly need support. The diversity of needs is putting growing pressure on companies to develop a cohesive and inclusive benefits strategy to unify the support offered to working families—one that offers holistic solutions that drive organizational health and improved work outcomes.
These family-friendly policies—which include parental leave, child care, flexible work arrangements, and infertility treatment—are also seen as key to allowing companies to continue to attract and retain a talented and diverse workforce. In a 2020 Willis Towers Watson survey, almost eight in 10 employers said that family-friendly benefits would be important to their talent strategy in the next three years to a great or very great extent.