AIG has added a surrogacy reimbursement benefit and boosted its adoption reimbursement benefit in an effort to appeal to its increasingly diverse workforce
The finance and insurance company will now reimburse U.S. employees up to $13,800 of eligible surrogacy-related expenses per child. Eligible expenses include agency fees for the cost of locating and managing a surrogacy, legal fees for negotiation of a surrogacy contract and domestic travel fees associated with the surrogacy arrangement. The company also increased its adoption reimbursement per child to $13,800 from $7,500. The combined lifetime maximum reimbursement amount per employee under the new program is $27,600.
The changes went into effect at the beginning of the year for U.S. employees. AIG has 50,000 employees globally, although it does not publically break that number down by region.
“We’re always looking for ways to enrich our employee benefit offerings to meet the needs of our ever-diverse workforce,” says Justin Orlando, senior director of employee benefits at AIG. “We have 115 employee resource groups at AIG, and our New York LGBT & Allies ERG encouraged us to offer policies that further support today’s diverse families, like the adoption and surrogacy assistance program.”
In addition to these new offerings, Orlando says AIG offers paid parental leave, health retirement and savings, wellness programs and an employee assistance program. The company also provides emergency back-up childcare assistance and referral information regarding child, adult and pet care.
“We understand that personal problems, planning for life events or simply managing daily life can affect our employees, their family, health and work,” Orlando says. “So we provide an array of benefits to help address our employees’ concerns.”
Numerous employers are beefing up family-friendly benefits offerings, including paid parental leave, breast milk shipping and adoption and surrogacy reimbursement. For example,
The percentage of employers offering fertility benefits to employees is expected to grow to 66% in 2019 from 55% in 2017, according to data from Willis Towers Watson.
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Orlando says employees value benefits when making decisions about where to work. He hopes the new benefits will be a retaining factor for workers long term.
“While it’s a little early to say, we do hope our benefits, and the addition of the new adoption and surrogacy assistance program, help retain current employees as well as future employees,” he says. “What we do know, through our work with ERGs, is that our employees are extremely engaged and appreciative when we are able to listen and work with them to offer benefits that truly matter to them.”
