In the U.S., about one in five women are unable to get pregnant after one year of trying, while about one in four women in this group have difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Builders may be in the business of building homes, but homeowners—including company employees—dream of building homes for their growing families. For the many people across the country struggling with infertility, both dreams at points may seem out of reach.
In an effort to help those individuals, national builder Taylor Morrison recently elected to take its family-forming employee benefits a step further by offering fertility treatments and surrogacy allowances.
Team members enrolled in any of the company’s medical plans are now eligible for up to $20,000 in fertility benefits covering a range of treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intrauterine insemination, fertility testing, and restorative treatments. The builder is also newly introducing financial support for surrogacy assistance.
These fertility benefits are in addition to the company’s established paid parental leave and adoption assistance.
To hear more about the new benefits, BUILDER spoke with Sheryl Palmer, chairman and CEO. See her responses below that explain the thought behind the idea, the execution, and employee response.
BUILDER: What is the company’s current paid parental leave and adoption assistance policies?
Palmer: Taylor Morrison provides two weeks of paid parental leave to team members following the birth or adoption of a child. In addition, this leave runs concurrently with Family and Medical Leave Act leave, for up to 12 weeks. Taylor Morrison’s Adoption Assistance Program provides up to $4,000 to assist team members in covering the cost of adopting a child.
BUILDER: Why was it important for Taylor Morrison to expand its benefits to include fertility and surrogacy options?
Palmer: The journey to parenthood oftentimes isn’t linear or without trials. There is also a magnitude of diversity when it comes to the different ways families are built, including people struggling with infertility and those who become parents later in life, to single parents and LGBTQ+ couples. At Taylor Morrison, we always put our team members first, including their health and wellness. We continually reevaluate our team members’ benefits to ensure we’re providing the options they desire most that will positively impact their lives.
As an organization committed to advancing our evolving diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging strategy and one consistently ranked within Bloomberg’s Gender Equality Index, Taylor Morrison is proud to play a role supporting team members wanting or needing to explore options such as IVF, surrogacy, or adoption. By offering additional assistance for team members, we hope to alleviate some of the associated stress and financial burden that comes with building a family through these avenues.
BUILDER: Where did the idea stem from?
Palmer: Families represent the largest segment of our consumer base at Taylor Morrison. To reflect our commitment to serving not just our customers’ families but our team members’ too, we decided to enhance our employee benefits in 2023 to include additional family-forming assistance. Being able to help take some of the financial hardship that often comes with IVF, surrogacy, or adoption off our team members is such a meaningful way we can support them and show our care.
BUILDER: What did the company have to do to set up this benefit? Who was involved?
Palmer: It’s so important to us as an employer to be sure we’re providing benefits that support the needs of our team and their families. It’s become tradition for us to survey our team members each year for their thoughts on enhancing our benefits offerings, and we take their feedback to heart. Our leadership team worked closely with the People Services department, our insurance administrator, and third-party consultants to design a comprehensive benefit program that considered the different paths that people may take to form their families.
BUILDER: How have employees reacted to the announcement?
Palmer: We shared the news that we would be adding family-forming benefits during one of our quarterly all-employee calls, and the feedback from team members was outstanding. Many have even shared their stories with us.
One long-time Taylor Morrison team member with a 20-year tenure went through multiple fertility treatments to help her and her husband conceive over the course of six years, costing upward of $65,000 out of pocket.
“Infertility can be a long, emotional, and costly journey,” shared the Texas-based team member. “After several difficult years trying to conceive, my daughter was born with the help of IVF. I know firsthand what a blessing these fertility benefits will be for those struggling to start a family, and I am overjoyed to work for an employer who cares.”
BUILDER: What’s the process for interested employees to use the benefit?
Palmer: Fertility benefits are offered through our medical plan administrator, Cigna. Telephonic and electronic resources are available from Cigna to help guide team members throughout the entire process, including understanding what is covered under our plan and how to find in-network providers. Our People Services department works directly with team members wanting to know more about surrogacy or adoption benefits.
BUILDER: Do you believe benefits like these attract workers to your company? Make current employees stay longer?
Palmer: Absolutely. We’re seeing benefits like these are continuing to become more important to employees, and we added these based on our team members telling us which benefit enhancements would be most meaningful to them. As a growing workforce of Gen Z and millennials increases demographically, many report a desire to join an organization that aligns with their core values while also offering competitive employee perks.
