Episode 176: Building Families with Ferring — A Win-Win

Purvi Tailor: So, we chose to add Progyny, at the time, you know, through the research that we did, Progyny was the market leader, and we knew you had great relationships with many of the clinics. And your philosophy also matched ours. And so, we decided that would be a good partnership for us. We wanted the decision to be what was in the best interest of the patient. And we wanted them to be less concerned about the financial burden and more focused on doing what will help them build the family that they want. And the bundled approach really helped us accomplish that.

I think in 2022, what we did was we really changed the game. By launching a market leading package called Building Families at Ferring. It’s a holistic package with three tiers. The first tier is unlimited financial support that you may require to build your family and that is offered regardless of the role the employee has, the market that they’re located in, or the specific journey that they might be on whether it’s a natural birth, whether you’re going through an adoption, etc. As the second part of the package, we have what I consider a groundbreaking 26 weeks of paid parental leave, which we are using as a global standard. And that applies to both the birthing parent as well as the non-birthing parent. And the third pillar of our package is just the level of support and awareness that you see in the workplace. And so, we do a lot of programming on that as well. I’m really proud that we started to offer this benefit in 2022. And that really has enabled us to expand the partnership that we have with you at Progyny as well.

Purvi Tailor: As an employer, I think we are a people first culture. And this building families, that package, obviously, is an amazing way for us to be able to demonstrate that – not only because it’s core to the business that we’re in, but it also sends a message to the employee base. You know, it helps us retain the talent that we have. But I think it’s also attractive for potential people that might come and work for us. Because it’s a way that we live our mission as a company, not just for our patients, but for the colleagues that work right next to us here. So, I think we feel really, really, really good about that.

Dan Bulger: In the past, it wasn’t always like this. Employers didn’t cover things like fertility, and they certainly didn’t provide anywhere near the level of support that Ferring is offering with their benefits package. But times have changed, and more employers are actively searching for ways to bring fertility and family building benefits to their people.

Purvi Tailor: Gone are the days when employers had the luxury of not thinking about what can help drive retention in the workforce. They have a lot of choices. And so, I do think benefits, whether it’s fertility benefits, or any of the many different types of benefits that exist, are great ways to attract and retain employees. I also think that once you have even a handful of those benefits, they are important in creating a more positive employee experience, which ultimately drives engagement. And all the research shows that if you have better engagement, you have better performance. And if you have better performance, your business will probably do better. So, I think it’s a win-win. And it’s a shame if people look at it just from a financial cost, because there’s probably a balance on the other side where the employer would probably reap a benefit from it, an increase in productivity, and retention, which we all know, when you don’t have those two things — that also cost money. So again, I’d encourage employers to also look at it through that lens. I would encourage any manager of benefits to start looking at this, no matter what size, the company that you work for is, you know, I think it’s important to look at your workforce, see what you believe would benefit them the most. And keep in mind that you don’t have to do it all at once.