For many people, employee benefits don’t feel important until they need to use them—which is one reason about half of employees don’t know or understand what they’re entitled to. But according to data from InHerSight, a company-reviews platform for women, that delay in understanding can have a considerable—and unseen—impact.
Earlier this year, in partnership with bereavement advocacy nonprofit Evermore, InHerSight surveyed more than 1,300 people on the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), specifically whether they knew that leave for miscarriage and stillbirth, which allots time for employees to rest, recover, and grieve their loss, is protected under that law. Seventy-seven percent of respondents said they didn’t know about the protection, and 91 percent of people who’ve had a miscarriage or stillbirth said they took zero days off from work to recover.
“I think it’s concerning that people who’ve lost a pregnancy would be physically recovering and emotionally processing while still at work, all because they don’t know they have the right to put themselves first,” said Ursula Mead, InHerSight’s cofounder and CEO. “My main takeaway from this data is that we all need to do a better job of understanding our rights before we need to use them. Otherwise, we risk not realizing we had rights at all, or our managers risk putting direct reports in uncomfortable and disempowered positions.”
The FMLA states that eligible workers have the right to take 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to care for serious health conditions, including miscarriage and stillbirth. There are additional requirements, too, like the company has to have more than 50 employees and the employee needs to have worked there for a year, but the headline remains the same. People aren’t using the benefit because they don’t know it exists.
Joyal Mulheron, executive director of Evermore, said the onus shouldn’t be on employees to self-educate. It should be on companies. “Employers are missing opportunities to educate employees about the fact that the FMLA allows leave for a woman who’s grieving a pregnancy loss or stillbirth,” she said. “These are especially painful losses for women, and employers can, and must, do better.”
In this case, improvement means effective education and communication and creating a supportive culture. Here are three areas that employers should focus on right now to ensure their workforce knows their rights—and uses them. Gender inclusivity depends on it.
1. Communicate benefits clearly and frequently.
Anjela Mangrum, a certified personnel consultant, executive recruiter, and talent specialist for the manufacturing industry, has never met an employee who didn’t want to maximize their benefits usage. “Many just don't understand how they work and what the benefits exactly involve,” she said. “Others find the procedure required to utilize the benefits lengthy and limiting. For instance, if you need your employees to fill an extensive form and submit multiple documents via an online portal that keeps crashing, or in an HR office where the staff itself is unhelpful, you might as well skip offering employee benefits altogether.”
That’s why benefits need to be communicated consistently and clearly throughout the employee lifecycle. Onboarding shouldn’t be the first and last time an employee hears about the FMLA or leave for miscarriage and stillbirth.
Instead, benefits should be an ongoing conversation. Cover a different benefit every month in the company newsletter, or position benefits knowledge as interesting facts at the start of meetings or in an online portal. Educate employees in small, but memorable, doses so as not to overwhelm them with information. Invite questions, always.
And when the time comes for employees to use their benefits, be prepared to walk them through everything all over again if need be. “Don't assume that the employee understands the benefits that the company offers,” Mulheron said. “Take the time to explain what the benefits are and how they are applied. Ask questions and make sure the employee understands.”
2. Train managers to talk about sensitive topics.
According to InHerSight data, employees feel most comfortable elevating issues or concerns when speaking directly to their manager in 1:1s. Given miscarriage is often private, it’s imperative that companies think of managers as their first responders—the people who need to know how to say and do the right thing.
“Supervisors are especially important. Often, they are the sole liaison between the employee and the company,” Mulheron said. “Master the art of genuine empathy. Listen hard and carefully. Acknowledge the courage it takes for an employee to share their story with you. If the FMLA is being used, remind the employee that her job will be there when she returns.”
Mulheron recommends using language like this to communicate support while also guiding employees through benefits coverage:
“I’m so sorry for your loss. Do you need some time away from the office? Our company policy is _____, and there are more leave options provided through the FMLA. Let’s talk about what’s on your plate and how we can divide it up.”
3. Ensure you’re delivering on other benefits.
All of the manager training and HR fun facts in the world will be wasted if one key element is missing from your company’s culture: trust. Employees need to believe that they can use their benefits without repercussions.
“I've known many professionals ignore company benefits due to previous bad experiences with their employer,” Mangrum said. “For instance, many workers at companies that offer 'unlimited PTO' call this benefit a scam, with most ending up taking even less time off than the standard two to three weeks. Most of them are guilted into coming to work when they want time off by toxic managers or the dreaded 'hustle culture' that looks down upon employees who need a break. In such circumstances, they don't trust their companies' benefits policies enough to find out what else they're being offered.”
While it might be difficult to gauge whether employees feel comfortable taking miscarriage or stillbirth leave, more frequently and publicly used benefits such as parental leave and paid time off can serve as litmus tests for whether there is a culture of trust around your benefits programs.
Mead recommends shoring up listening and surveying systems to gain anonymous feedback on what is and isn’t working. For instance, find out whether the parents at your company feel like they can take parental leave without falling behind, being excluded from projects, or missing out on advancement opportunities. If they say no, consider how that culture affects other employees, like those who’ve had a miscarriage or stillbirth. Would they be willing to take time off of work or even broach the topic with their manager?
Then, find new and creative ways to get the message out that your benefits are safe to use. Ask leaders to be more open about how they’ve spent their PTO, or invite employees to share which benefit they enjoy most on your company’s intranet. On the policy side, even consider adjusting benefits to emphasize their importance, like requiring employees to take a minimum time off for unlimited PTO or, for miscarriage and stillbirth leave, adding an additional private, paid bereavement leave that works alongside the FMLA. These tactics make benefits an ongoing—and positive—conversation.
“Everything is connected,” Mead said. “A culture of trust means employees don’t just believe, but know, that their employer is going to do what they said they’d do. They need evidence.”
“The FMLA can be complex in nature and difficult to understand in general,” Mulheron said. “Employees' privacy is important, and they hesitate sometimes to share any life event that’ll cause them to need time off. Some employees worry that this will be held against them, and their job will be in jeopardy. What's important is the culture of a company—the values of leadership, if they can enculturate a culture where employees feel safe—that would help.”
This article originally appeared on Fast Company.
