Fertility benefits becoming a must for employees: According to a recent survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 42% of U.S. employers polled offered fertility-related benefits in 2024, up from 30% in 2020. This uptick comes as more employers consider fertility and family-building benefits imperative business tools. These benefits help employers attract and retain talent and support the overall wellbeing of their workforce, says Julie Stich, vice president of content for the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. In part, the push to expand fertility benefits may be related to broader attention to employee financial wellness. Fertility treatments can be expensive, often leaving them out of reach for low- to moderate-income employees. A single IVF cycle, for example, may cost upwards of $30,000, with a round of egg freezing costing about $8,000, according to the New York Times. In some instances, employees will take on additional jobs to cover the cost of fertility treatments. Source: EBN 9/16/24
Women are more likely to forgo medical care: Half of women say they skip or delay medical care, citing cost, long wait times, and transportation issues as barriers, according to the results of the 2024 Deloitte Health Care Consumer Survey, released Sept. 10th. Because of cost, women are most likely to skip care related to acute illness, like the cold or flu; preventive care; and women’s health issues, the survey found. Of the more than 2,000 U.S. consumers surveyed, women were 35% more likely to skip care than men. Thirty-seven percent of men reported skipping or delaying medical care in the past year. Women are 31% more likely to skip medical care than men when it comes to cost, the survey found. And 44% of the women surveyed said they are “not prepared” or “slightly prepared” to pay $500 to cover a medical emergency, compared to 25% of men who said they were unprepared to pay for medical emergencies. Source: HR Dive 9/18/24
Are you preparing for the coming labor shortage? Although eight years away, a combination of retirements, mismatches between workers and available jobs, and a decline in workforce participation among men is set to drive the gap, according to by Lightcast, a provider of labor market data. Based on expected growth in the population, it projects a 6 million shortfall of workers by 2032 compared with the current level. The study found that out of 5 million workers who left the workforce since 2020, about four-fifths of them were over the age of 55. In 2027 the number of Americans who turn 65 — historically a typical retirement age — will exceed the number that turn 16 for the first time, meaning there may not be enough potential new entrants into the workforce to replace retirees. Further, many prime-age men are disappearing from the job market. That’s partly due to an increase in substance abuse and incarceration, which between them are responsible for taking 4.6 million Americans out of the labor force, the Lightcast research found — at a time when there’s a rising number of openings in “critical, male-dominated skilled-trade jobs.” Immigration is in part driving the workforce currently, but generally at low level jobs. Workforce planning is necessary now if the employer is intending to sustain itself for the future. Source: Bloomberg 9/18/24
New OSHA online tool for tracking purposes: OSHA’s new Severe Injury Report dashboard allows the public to search and download data by year, industry NAICS code, state, establishment name (i.e., employer), and Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System codes. The dashboard includes information on all severe injuries reported by employers covered under federal OSHA from 2015 through the end of 2023. OSHA defines a severe injury as “an amputation, in-patient hospitalization, or loss of an eye.” This tool provides injury data without contextual information or consideration of other metrics taking employer size and other trends into account – all of which could present a fuller picture of an employer’s total injury rate. Source: Seyfarth Shaw 9/13/24
Is Return to Office (RTO) working? 2 out of 3 managers surveyed in June by Robert Half said they would be willing to increase salaries for new hires who work in an office, according to the firm’s 2025 Salary Guide. Of the employers who would pay a return-to-office premium, 59% said they would pay up to 20% more for workers to come in between 4 and 5 days per week. Robert Half noted that meeting candidates’ pay expectations was the biggest hiring challenge for nearly half of employers surveyed. However, although many U.S. companies have implemented return-to-office policies since 2020, 1 in 5 workers say they aren’t following their company’s mandate, according to an October 1 report from Resume Builder. Most workers said they want to be in the office for three or fewer days per week — and about half said they’ll quit if their company enforces RTO compliance. Source: HR Dive 10/10/24, Resume Builder 10/1/2024