Rock-a-bye Recession; Maternity Benefits Can Go A Long Way To Recession-proof Retention, Women’s Family Plans

Copyright 2009 SourceMedia, Inc.All Rights Reserved <span id="x_hitDiv1">Employee <span id="x_hitDiv1">Benefit News <br> <br> <span id="x_hitDiv2">August 2009 <br> <br> HEALTH CARE; Pg. 38 Vol. 23 No. 8 <br> <br> 1216 words <br> <br> <br> Rock-a-bye recession; Maternity benefits can go a long way to recession-proof retention, women's family plans<br> <br> Kathleen Koster <br> <br> <p></p> Results from a poll conducted earlier this year by Gallup Organization for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists show that 14% of women age 18 to 44 in the United States say the economy has had a negative impact on their plans to have a baby. <p></p> Such stats indicate that maternity benefits are at an even higher premium during tough economic times, making such offerings - particularly paid leave - even more important in attracting and retaining workers. <p></p> However, paid maternity leave long has been a benefits sore spot. The United States is one of only four nations that doesn't legally provide for paid leave after childbirth, according to a Harvard University survey of 168 nations. The other three: Papua New Guinea, Swaziland and Lesotho. <p></p> It's left to employers to fill the gaps - and gaps persist. <p></p> "What employers need to recognize is that the outdated model of assuming that mothers are not in the workplace is no longer the reality," says Heather Boushey, a senior economist with the Center for American Progress. <p></p> "I think we're going to see increasing pressure on employers and policymakers to adapt and ... enact policies that make it easier for employees to address work- family conflict, especially vis-Ã -vis new children." <p></p> Currently, 75% of Fortune 100 employers offer some type of leave for new mothers, generally in the form of temporary disability leave, according to the Joint Economic Committee. Only 15% offer paid maternity leave other than what's covered by short-term disability, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. <p></p> Under temporary disability leave, women are granted six weeks leave for a normal delivery and eight weeks for women who have undergone a C-section. Despite the recession, these benefits have remained intact, experts say, mainly because they come out on the right size of a cost-benefit analysis. <p></p> "To change something big and important, but not costly - as is a short-term disability plan - is pretty unusual and is hard to do," says Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "It would be complicated administratively; you'd have to spend a lot of money communicating and you'd have to go back to your disability carrier. It's not so easy that you would do it, even in a recession like this." Darling notes that disability leave is not a big-ticket item, accounting for less than half of 1% of payroll. <p></p> Since they can provide maternity benefits without breaking the bank, not only are employers retaining the benefits, they often are adding to them, Darling says. One such company is Cigna. The insurance provider offers new mothers six weeks paid leave for a vaginal birth, eight weeks for a C-section and also provides a private onsite lactation room. Further, Cigna offers flexible scheduling options and telecommuting for new parents. <p></p> "The benefit is so much more than just the leave - it's everything. It's all [the resources and benefits] you get before you're pregnant, while your pregnant and immediately after the birth, and the benefits continue. The benefit is more than the leave, it's the whole package," says Mary Bianchi, manager of Cigna's Healthy Life Program. <p></p> The majority of HR/benefits professionals recognize this to be the case. In October 2007, World at Work asked pros how important maternity benefits were to attracting individuals to and retaining employees in the organization. <p></p> Seventy-four percent answered that those benefits were of moderately-to-high importance to the organization's recruiting image, while the same percentage said they were of moderate or high significance regarding retention of employees. <p></p> "There's a real need for this: It helps women establish breast-feeding, it makes it possible to get to those early doctor appointments, [for newborns] to bond with their parents, and helps [mothers] recover from childbirth. The lack of pay makes it difficult for a lot of workers to take that leave," says Karen Minatelli, director of work and family programs at the National Partnership for Women and Families. <p></p> "Once employees feel that they are given the space to bond with a new child, that gives them increased loyalty to the employer and makes them feel better about the work that they're doing and want to give more back." <p></p> Bringing the U.S. up to speed legislatively Maternal health care in the workplace <p></p> The United States is one of only four nations that does not provide for paid leave after childbirth, but two bills currently in Congress would bring the nation's policies more in line with other advanced nations. <p></p> * Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act <p></p> The bill, which passed the House in June, demands paid maternity and paternity leave benefits for federal employees, providing up to four weeks of paid leave. <p></p> * Family Leave Insurance Act <p></p> This measure, if approved, would be the paid leave bookend to the Family and Medical Leave Act, giving all employees 12 weeks paid time off. The leave program would be funded by workers and employers and would cost .2% of an employee's salary - on average, $7 per month. Cigna's Healthy Babies, Healthy Business program follows female employees before and throughout their pregnancies and after they give birth - providing health coaches, extra dental coverage and covering the cost of generic prescription prenatal drugs 100% - while encouraging health risk assessments. The program has yielded savings of more than $6,000 per pregnancy for their employees participating.The investment in the program is worth it, according to CIGNA: <p></p> * Nearly 13% (more than a half-million) of all babies born each year in the United States are born prematurely. * The costs related to prematurity add up to $26 billion a year, according to the Institute of Medicine.* Premature babies spend on average nearly 12 days longer in the hospital during the 12 months following birth than full-term babies. Employers pay half of the total hospital costs for pretem birth, costs that tend to escalate after discharge. Premature babies also require significantly more outpatient visits and prescription drugs during their first year of life, all contributing to higher costs for employer and employee.* Twenty-five percent of the earliest and smallest babies live with chronic conditions, such as cerebral palsy and blindness.* Maternity care costs - including prenatal care, delivery and three months postpartum - are nearly $4,000 higher on average for mothers with complicated deliveries than women who had a normal deliveries. And these costs don't even account for the costs of short-term disability and lost productivity during this time.* Mothers of premature babies spend an average of 29.1 days on short-term disability leave over the six months following delivery, while mothers of full-term babies spend only 18.9 days on average, cites a 2004 Thomson analysis.Along with their Healthy Babies, Healthy Business, Cigna provides the 14 Steps, a free resource to employers that includes educational materials for employees.Says Dr. Jeff Kang, Cigna's chief medical officer: "Each of us can and must take steps within our own organizations to support and improve the health of parents and their babies. Healthy mothers who deliver healthy babies are healthier employees. And, ultimately, healthy employees contribute to a healthier business." <br> <br> <a href="http://www.ebn.benefitnews.com/">http://www.ebn.benefitnews.com/</a> <br> <br> August 3, 2009 <br> <br> <div> <div class="x_nshr"> <center></center> <center><a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/about/copyrt.html" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks">Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All Rights Reserved. </a><br> <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/terms/general" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks">Terms and Conditions</a> <a href="http://www.lexis-nexis.com/terms/privacy" target="_new" class="x_pagelinks"> Privacy Policy</a> <br> </center> </div> </div> </span></span></span>