When fertility benefits are not properly managed, employers face a host of problems that seriously impact employee productivity. (Photo: Shutterstock)

The American family is evolving, signaling cultural and economic shifts that are here to stay. American's are delaying marriage, waiting longer to have children and having fewer children. As Millennials prioritize education and career, more and more of them are finding themselves in need of fertility assistance when they finally decide to have a family. Although once considered a rare employee benefit, employer-covered fertility benefits and other family-building benefits such as adoption and surrogacy are now becoming a necessity in the workplace.

From a workplace perspective, the subject of infertility presents employers with both an opportunity and a challenge. The opportunity: attract and retain the best talent in an increasingly competitive marketplace by offering all-inclusive fertility coverage to employees. The challenge: when fertility benefits are not managed by experts in the space, employers face a host of problems that seriously impact employee productivity as well as short and long-term health care costs.

Managing the family-building benefit will drive savings

Employers offing a fertility benefit can offer an unmanaged benefit, or a clinically managed benefit. With an unmanaged benefit, (COE models included) employees navigate their own path through a complicated fertility environment, spending their precious benefit dollars at their own discretion. This gives an employee access to company funds without any guidance on the most efficient and productive way to use those funds, dramatically increasing claims.