Data & Benchmarks, Diversity & Inclusion, Employee Wellbeing, Employer Brand, Employee Experience, Employee Surveys, Women
One of the most exciting parts of working at Great Place To Work is reviewing submission materials from companies who are looking for recognition of their great workplaces and seeing trends emerge. Overall, it appears that companies are customizing perks and providing more support around individuals’ unique circumstances – whether they are veterans, trying to conceive or paying off student loans. We are calling this trend, ‘Benefits For All.'
An uptick in military support
So many companies have implemented veterans’ programs that companies without veteran-focused programs stand out. Programs range from Veterans’ Day luncheons to paid salaries during military leave. Some specific examples that deserve note include:
- American Express has a veteran-owned business coalition.
- Activision Blizzard interviewed WW2 veterans as research for a game they were producing, and sell dog tags to raise money for veterans’ causes.
- Navy Federal Credit Union has a military awareness training.
- Bank of America hit their goal of hiring 7,500 veterans since 2014.
- Capital One provides a dedicated mentor for employees who were in the military.
More support around fertility, surrogacy and adoption programs
More and more companies are providing benefits for employees looking to have children. Capital One, Deloitte and PwC all added new programs for egg preservation and IVF treatment. Capital One offers $35,000 in support in this area, and Deloitte and PwC both offer $25,000. We also see maternity leave practices improving, and milk shipping benefits are becoming more common.
Bereavement leave improving
We are seeing more companies offer bereavement leave and allowing employees to take leave to take care of aging parents. Bank of America and Deloitte, for example, changed their policies this year to offer better benefits around leave.
Support for repaying student loans
Students are graduating with crippling student load debt and many companies are looking to help. Deloitte provides $300/year for student loan repayment and NVIDIA is giving employees $3,000 for repayment, in addition to helping them refinance up to $30,000.
