Some of Philly's largest employers offer fertility service benefits

Some of Philadelphia's largest employers are offering pricey fertility support services as part of benefits packages to attract and retain talent.

The big picture: It's in line with a national trend as businesses across the country beef up their benefits in a highly competitive labor market, Axios' Erica Pandey writes.

By the numbers: In 2020, 11% of U.S. employers with 500 employees or more covered egg freezing, compared with just 5% in 2015, according to a recent Mercer study.

• Meanwhile, 58% of employers of the same size covered evaluations by reproductive doctors, and 27% covered IVF.
• Some companies, like Nike, Johnson & Johnson and IBM, even help with the costs of adoption, according to the Society for Human Resource Management.

Among Philly's largest employers:

• Comcast, with around 17,600 employees in Philadelphia, covers a range of fertility services, including egg retrieval, egg freezing, IVF, insemination, donor coverage and more.
• Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, offers 15,200 of their 22,000 employees infertility treatments, an adoption policy with reimbursements and lifetime maximum of $30,000 for all medical plans.
• Jefferson Health, which has approximately 32,000 employees combined with Thomas Jefferson University, covers infertility treatments under one of its three benefit plans. It also offers adoption and surrogacy benefits up to $4,000 per arrangement.
• Philly-based Vanguard, which employs roughly 11,700 in the state, covers a variety of fertility services through health provider Progyny, including in vitro fertilization, surrogacy, egg freezing and more.
• Temple Health employs roughly 11,000 and covers unlimited trials of fertility services such as artificial insemination, in vitro and embryo transplants. It has been offering these services since 2007.

Of note: University of Pennsylvania, the city's largest employer, declined to disclose if it offers fertility services as benefits.

What they're saying: Fertility services are key from a diversity, equity and inclusion perspective, said Tanner Brunsdale, senior manager of benefits and mobility at Lyft, which offers these benefits.

• Brunsdale expects fertility services to become a new standard benefit at work.
• "Within the last five years, this has really taken off," Brunsdale said. "It's kind of table-stakes benefits at this point, especially at a tech company where you're trying to attract strong talent."

Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that 15,200 of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's 22,000 employees are eligible for the benefits.