The business world has greatly changed as women have battled for equal footing in a male-dominated marketplace. While more women are ascending to leadership positions and becoming entrepreneurs, creating true workplace equality extends beyond the boardroom — especially as the next generation of women embark on their careers. This starts with business owners fostering a positive work environment and offering an employee benefits package that will attract and retain the modern businesswoman.

The options for employee benefits programs have expanded. For example, parental leaves, beyond what disability programs offered, were previously unheard of, yet today are commonplace. So, what can women entrepreneurs and business leaders do to continue moving the needle, what constitutes a modern employee benefits package and what are the challenges to employers?

Reproductive health

Infertility benefits could be something your current and prospective female employees find incredibly useful. Those undergoing or in need of infertility care likely know how expensive it is and, with few exceptions, most health plans are not mandated to provide coverage for these issues. Those that do often have low lifetime maximums that do not provide an adequate level of coverage given the underlying cost of treatment.

For women who want to start a family later in life, larger companies such as Starbucks and Intel offer financial assistance with egg freezing. Additionally, in-vitro fertilization and adoption benefits are also increasingly popular employee benefits. With one in eight couples affected by infertility, coverage of treatment can positively affect a significant portion of your workforce. As employers craft these programs, they'll also be faced with many questions, like whether these benefits will apply to same-sex couples and single people, and what limits they should set on infertility treatments. Overall, your offering should be in alignment with your diversity and inclusion efforts and initiatives.

If you decide to add or expand reproductive benefits, it's also important to put in place parameters that keep the benefits feasible for your company. Those could be lifetime dollar-amount maximums or cycle maximums (the number of fertility treatment cycles insurance will cover). It is also a good idea to add or increase these benefits incrementally, so the company can learn from experience. For example, an employer with a $10,000 lifetime maximum fertility benefit may increase to $30,000 rather than unlimited. Gauging increased utilization as your company makes these changes will help strategically guide the evolution of the program.

Maternity, paternity and family leaves

The length of time companies grant for maternity and paternity leaves has changed over time. Should a leave last weeks or months? What percentage of salary should be covered? How are these figures determined? While several states have passed paid family leave laws for maternity and bonding leave, and many more in the works, best in class employers are getting ahead of this by offering more generous parental leave benefits than required.

Something to consider: Studies have shown that access to paid family leave significantly increases the likelihood of workers returning to their jobs versus leaving the workforce or taking time away from work to look for a new job.

In addition to time off for new children, some employers are now offering return-to-work support to assist with employees' transition back into the workforce after childbirth or adoption. This complements other comprehensive benefits packages that are helping families at every stage of life. Parental and family leaves, for example, allow employees to take time off specifically to care for their children or loved ones so they do not have to use their accrued paid time off.

Something as simple as changing how you frame these benefits can also affect employee morale. For instance, when Twitter unveiled its gender-neutral parental leave program for all new parents, the company framed the program in terms of thinking beyond outdated ideas that moms stay home while dads go to work. Moreover, many progressive employers like Intel have stopped categorizing maternity leave as a short-term disability, opting instead to call it bonding leave, which can also extend to newly adopted children.

Part of the calculation for how much leave you can offer will be contingent upon whether the rest of the team can pick up the workload for the absent employee and for how long. Most of the answers to these questions will depend on the nature of your industry, the size of your staff and the scope of their work.

Eldercare

As noted above, several states have passed paid family leave laws that offer paid time off for bonding and to care for a family member with a serious health condition. Many times, family members in need of care are aging loved ones. Employers have recognized this and are offering programs that allow employees to take time away from work to provide care without having to go unpaid or deplete their paid time off.

One of the driving forces behind this movement is that many employees find themselves caring for their own children and their aging parents. And these roles come with a lot of distracting and distressing responsibilities. In fact, caregiving has shown to reduce employee work productivity by 18.5 percent and increase the likelihood of employees leaving the workplace.

Northwestern University is an example of an organization where many of its 8,500 employees fall between the 40-60 age bracket, otherwise known as the "sandwich generation." To help this population, Northwestern created a comprehensive family benefits program that encompasses childcare as well as eldercare benefits, and includes access to senior care advisors, customized referrals to care facilities, legal and financial expertise and employee assistance programs (EAPs).

EAPs are one of the most common elder care benefit offerings and they provide employees and family members with educational and referral services for senior care. According to the International Employee Assistance Professionals Association, more than 75 percent of companies offer EAPs. However, a little less than 7 percent of employees take advantage of these programs, either because they feel they are too hard to navigate, do not want to divulge personal information or simply because they are not aware that the program exists. Many employees do not realize that their EAP can assist with elder care-related issues. That's why it's important to ensure you're communicating what your company is already offering.

To complement EAPs, employers can also offer Dependent Care Assistance Plans (DCAPs) which allow employees to set aside tax-free dollars for qualified elder care. Again, many employees think of these plans as solely for childcare, but they can also be used for elder daycare expenses when the employee is working or seeking work. While DCAPs do not cover the entire cost of elder care, they can provide up to $5,000 per calendar year in assistance and reduce employees' federal tax burden.

Benchmarking benefits

If you're thinking about creating a progressive benefits package for your company, it's important to also create human resources teams equipped to build and administer them. This starts with an understanding of the company's goals. Is the company in an active growth phase? From a talent recruitment perspective, is there a specific demographic the company is targeting? Is retention more important?

When crafting your program, make sure you are carefully researching. Before anything else, look to the legislative horizon. The United States' public policy changes all the time, you don't want to think you're making a big splash by offering a benefit only to discover a new federal or state law already covers it.

It's also important to benchmark against peers and competitors to know what type of benefits other companies in the same state and industry are offering. If you want to be competitive, you'll need to at least match, or possibly exceed, those benchmarks.

Examining industries or companies that are leading the charge in progressive benefits packages, such as higher education and tech, can also be useful when crafting a benefits program. You can glean interesting strategies and ideas from any of these industries, and then cross-reference them with employee surveys and focus groups, as well as questions you ask during the recruiting process and exit interviews. These activities allow you to ask questions about benefits that might be lacking or determine which ones could reflect a larger diversity and inclusion initiative.

When creating a benefits program of any sort, you must define your investment. If you are new entrepreneurs with tight budgets, then spend the money where it will impact the most individuals in the company, focusing on doing what is right for your businesses. Rebranding or repackaging of your current offerings is also a great way to educate employees about the benefits presently available to them and can have a great impact on utilization.

That bold, fearless spirit of innovation is what has helped so many women entrepreneurs and business leaders to grow their companies. To nurture future female business leaders, it is vital they receive the needed support to wear any hat they choose. Crafting the right employee benefits package is a key step toward empowering the next generation.

Jessie Campbell is a managing consultant for Strategic Benefit Advisors (SBA), an Affiliated Company of Brown & Brown Insurance. Campbell brings more than 15 years of experience to the employee benefits field and oversees strategic design and program management of SBA's group medical, dental, life and disability programs.

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