Making your benefits strategy work for women

Women today make up nearly half of the US workforce (47%).¹ However, despite recent gains in employment following major job losses during the pandemic, women are still facing many disparities. Women are underrepresented in management positions and are paid less than working men.² And women who double as caregivers for children or family members are 5 to 8 times more likely to have their jobs affected.³

The panelists in our webinar Making Benefits Work for Women: What’s your strategy? looked at the unique opportunities that employers have to address the needs of women through their benefits strategies. Here are tips for how to help ensure that your benefits offerings support women.

Offer flexibility

“In the old world of work, flexibility was a nice to have,” notes Katie Burke, Chief People Officer of Hubspot. “In the future of work, it’s really a have to have and it’s an imperative for caregivers.” And caregiving duties are more likely to fall on women: 3 in 5 caregivers in the US are women and 2 in 3 single working parents are mothers.⁴

Accommodations such as remote work options or non-traditional work schedules can give much-needed flexibility for caregivers who may be balancing a full-time job with added duties supporting children or aging parents. Allowing employees to break from a standard nine-to-five schedule can help them to make room for their personal situations, permitting them to take their family member or child to a doctor’s appointment, school, or allow for their other unique needs without losing time at work.

And flexibility isn’t just valued by caregivers. Guardian’s report Workforce 2020: Meeting the benefit needs of today’s diverse workforce in a changed world found that not only do 72% of caregivers rank flexibility and empathy from their employers as “highly important” but more than half (52%) of non-caregivers do as well.

Address financial stressors

Workplace benefits are extremely valuable to women and play an integral part in promoting their financial wellness. Guardian’s report Workforce 2020: Women and well-being found that 32% of women verses 21% of men say they’d face financial hardship if they didn’t have the benefits they received through their employer.  And 4 out of 5 women report that they don’t see a financial professional.

Access to benefits that include professional financial guidance and strategies can give women the tools and information they need to make informed choices and financial decisions. Employers should also consider offering both group and one-on-one sessions with financial professionals, since some women may find a group setting to be prohibitive. And make sure women can take advantage of these services by offering access to benefits during off-hours or through recorded sessions.

Don’t wait for employees to ask for what they need

If your company offers flexibility, support for caregivers, or mental health services, don’t wait for an employee to ask for help — make it clear that these services are a part of your company culture. “The barrier to ask for help is a burden placed on employees,” notes Burke. “Don’t assume that people are psychologically safe enough in your workspace to ask for help. Normalize that everyone needs more flexibility right now.”

Train managers on your benefits policies and empathetic leadership so that they are empowered, equipped, and well-versed in benefits to help address their employees’ needs. Normalize talking about flexibility, taking breaks, and taking leaves such as bereavement or parental leave.

Communicate about benefits often and through diverse channels

Employers can never communicate about benefits enough. And multi-channel communications can be important, especially to a multi-generational workforce. “We have about four to five generations in the workplace and we all receive work so differently, and we all communicate so differently,” says Tanya Morris, Founder and CEO of Simply HR, LLC. “I would encourage employers to look at different ways of communicating.” Text messaging, emails, webinars, or infographics can all offer different ways to reach your employees and help provide a robust enrollment experience.

Take feedback on your benefits offerings

When it comes to offering support, flexibility, and benefits, it’s very easy for employers to assume that all employees want the same thing or want traditional offerings. Yet, 52% of our webinar participants reported that their company had not asked for feedback on their benefits offerings in the past three years.⁵ Employers have an opportunity to optimize their benefits offerings by hearing from women directly to better understand what resources really make a difference.

Learn more about ways to support the well-being of all employees by visiting Guardian Edge, our resource center for the latest research and insights.