23 companies that boosted their benefits in 2021

Employees
fizkes - stock.adobe.com

Employers and employees continued to adjust to a new world of work in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic this past year. Employers seemed up to the task, launching new and improved benefits that support the health and well-being of their teams.

As employees adjusted to changes with hybrid work, remote learning and increased caregiver responsibilities, employers worked hard to make investments to retain their current workforce and attract new talent.

“As the workplace has continued to evolve over the past year, the demand for benefits has changed, too,” says Missy Plohr-Memming, senior vice president of sales at MetLife. “Looking ahead, employers should take note of non-traditional and emerging benefits, as providing these offerings will be key to retaining and hiring new employees amid the ongoing war for talent in the new year.”

Employers including Amazon, Walmart and Goldman Sachs all updated their benefits in 2021 to focus on innovative solutions to the complexities of their employees’ needs. Scroll through to see how these 23 top employers navigated 2021 and what’s in store for 2022.

Amazon

Amazon announced the launch of WorkingWell, a new comprehensive program providing employees with physical and mental activities, wellness exercises and healthy eating support, in an effort to promote better living. The program will provide employees with wellness zones, where employees can engage with voluntary stretching and muscle recovery at in-person Amazon locations; neighborhood healthcare centers that provide Amazon employees and their families affordable care within 10 miles of where they work and live; and a WorkingWell mobile app, which will include at-home access to all of the onsite safety, health and wellness offerings in Amazon buildings.

Read More: A new Amazon program will focus on holistic healthcare for employees

Bank of America

Bank of America has expanded its suite of workplace benefits to include Personal Retirement Strategy, a new digital advisory program that gives employers the opportunity to provide employees with an easy-to-use retirement plan and personalized investment strategy, accessible through a mobile app or desktop.

Read More: Bank of America debuts digital retirement program to help employees get on track

Bond Vet

In an effort to show their commitment toward employee well-being, the pet health company has announced that it will offer 100% healthcare coverage — meaning that there's no deduction taken out of an employee's paycheck — to every member of their team as part of their standard benefits package.

Read More: This veterinary clinic is covering their employees’ healthcare in full

Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill is helping employees narrow the skills gap through online education and personal development tools. The fast-food chain will offer all full-time employees access to Udemy for Business, an online education platform. Employees will have access to more than 5,000 of Udemy’s courses, which cover leadership and management, personal development, technology and wellness topics.

Read More: Chipotle expands benefits to focus on employee education

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs employees can help save the planet while lowering their utility bills, thanks to a benefit partnership with Arcadia, a monthly subscription service that connects renters and homeowners to wind and solar energy through their existing utility providers. The benefit gives Goldman Sachs employees the opportunity to run their homes on 100% renewable energy.

Read More: Goldman Sachs adds benefit to help employees go green

Hewlett Packard

Hewlett Packard partnered with StartOrganic, a virtual garden platform, to offer a wellness program to their workforce. The app teaches employees how to plant and maintain an organic garden through webinars, posts and Q&A sessions on Microsoft Teams. Hewlett Packard executives hope the program will encourage healthy eating and foster wellness in their global workforce.

Read More: Hewlett Packard’s latest benefit is a virtual vegetable garden

Law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

Fertility benefits management company WINFertility has teamed up with international law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld to offer all the firm’s U.S. employees benefits that assist with family planning and fertility treatments. The law firm will provide adoption benefits and surrogacy benefit coverage, along with 24/7 support from nurse care managers, who can offer recommendations and referrals throughout the process. Additionally, employees will have access to the WIN for Him program, which provides male fertility support.

Read More: WINFertility partners with law firm on family planning benefits 

Macy’s

The retail giant has partnered with Guild Education, an education benefits provider, to help its U.S. workers pay for tuition, books and fees for a variety of academic programs, including high school completion, college prep, English classes, associate and bachelor’s degrees and professional certificates.

Read More: Macy’s invests in education benefit, ups worker minimum wage

MGM Resorts

Virtual family health platform Ovia Health has partnered with hospitality and entertainment company MGM Resorts International on an employee benefit specifically designed for high risk pregnancies. The benefit provides free, WiFi-enabled blood pressure cuffs to pregnant employees enrolled in Ovia Health’s preeclampsia or hypertension program. The cuffs allow members to measure their daily blood pressure levels and input their data into the Ovia Pregnancy app. The app then alerts the employee of any concerning data trends.

Read More: MGM Resorts debuts pregnancy monitoring benefit from Ovia Health

PepsiCo

PepsiCo will continue to provide employees with a hybrid work environment through its new Work that Works program. Employees will be able to coordinate with their managers and teams to decide what work can be done remotely and what must be done in PepsiCo offices. The hybrid system will allow employees to choose when to gather and collaborate face-to-face, hopefully helping to combat the isolation so many experienced throughout the pandemic.

Read More: Pepsico embraces the future of work with hybrid schedule benefit

Podium

The software company has teamed up with employer-sponsored child care provider Bright Horizons to launch Little Founders, an on-site daycare benefit that provides working parents with a safe and affordable care option for their young children. Located at the company’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, Little Founders attendees will be provided with an innovative learning curriculum provided by Bright Horizons.

Read More: Software company partners with Bright Horizons to offer in-office child care

Prudential

Prudential Group Insurance expanded their mental health benefits to help employees on disability leave manage their anxiety through a partnership with NeuroFlow, a behavioral health platform. Prudential also partnered with caregiver benefits company Wellthy to help employees weather the challenges of caring for an aging or ill loved one.

Read More: Prudential teams with NeuroFlow on mental health app

Read More: Prudential teams with Wellthy to offer employers caregiving benefits

Progyny

Progyny, a benefits management company specializing in fertility and family building solutions, has introduced a five-day paid pregnancy loss leave policy for all full-time and part-time employees. The leave is not limited to five days per year, but rather five days per miscarriage. The benefit is also available to employees whose spouse, partner or surrogate who experienced a loss, and covers time off for failed adoption matches, adoptions that do not finalize due to legal contestation, or failed surrogacy arrangements.

Read More: Progyny debuts miscarriage leave for grieving employees 

PwC

The Big Four firm partnered with Northeastern University to create a masters in accounting program that combines online learning with real-world experience. The program will be offered for free to 40 Black and LatinX students, in addition to their general employee population. Earning this degree puts accountants one step closer to becoming a CPA — an accountant who can represent clients with the IRS. Additionally, PwC is offering a sabbatical program that gives employees a six-month leave of absence at 20% their regular pay without losing full access to their benefits.

Read More: PwC offers free masters degree for Black, Latinx accountants

Real

Mental-health platform Real introduced a new benefit to help its 45 team members truly rest and unwind on vacation: once a quarter, Real will close down for a full week, in addition to their unlimited PTO policy.

Read More: 'Sorry, we're closed.' CEO boosts employee mental health with company-wide vacation

Sanofi

French healthcare company Sanofi is the latest organization to enhance its paid parental leave policy for its 100,000 global workers. Sanofi’s staff will have access to 14 weeks of paid parental leave at 100% of their salary, as well as an additional two weeks of unpaid leave.

Read More: Sanofi expands paid parental leave policy to better support working parents

The Mom Project

The Mom Project is offering its employees paid time off following a miscarriage. Full-time employees will receive one week of paid leave for pre-term losses or for miscarriages occurring in the first trimester, three weeks in the second trimester, or six weeks in the third trimester. The expansion of family benefits also includes unlimited in vitro fertilization, surrogacy and adoption assistance of $25,000 and 16 weeks of parental leave, among others.

Read More: This startup CEO just introduced miscarriage leave. Will others follow her lead?

Unum

Unum, an employee benefits provider, is offering their employee caregivers a paid leave benefit of five consecutive business days to care for a spouse, child or parent suffering from a serious health condition. The company says the benefit helps caregivers manage the emotional and financial stressors associated with caregiving.

Read More: Unum offers employees caregiving PTO benefit

Volvo

Volvo Cars has given all 40,000 global employees 24-weeks of paid parental leave at 80% of their pay. Volvo’s Family Bond policy applies to all employees regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or whether they became a parent naturally or through adoption or permanent foster. The policy applies to either parent and the leave can be taken anytime within the first three years of parenthood. Employee parents in the U.S. will also have the option of 19 weeks of fully paid parental leave to be used within 36 months of becoming a parent.

Read More: Volvo triples amount of time off with new paid parental leave benefit

Virgin Pulse

The well-being provider teamed up with Carrot, a startup dedicated to tackling tobacco and nicotine addiction. Employees will have access to Carrot’s premiere product, Pivot, which helps track tobacco use and provides support via coaching and other features. The program comes in six- and 12-month program lengths and includes an FDA-cleared breath sensor to help users track their levels of carbon monoxide and nicotine replacement therapy.

Read More: Virgin Pulse has partnered with a startup to help employees tackle tobacco and nicotine addiction

Walgreens

Because the cost of pursuing a college degree can be prohibitive, Walgreens has teamed up with the online school University of Arizona Global Campus to cover 35% of worker’s tuition for bachelor's and master's programs. The benefit will also grant five full-tuition scholarships for qualifying Walgreens’ employees. The program is being managed by Zovio Employer Services, an organization that works with over 1,300 organizations across the country to provide higher education benefits.

Read More: Walgreens to cover 35% of employees’ tuition with new benefit

Walmart

Retail giant Walmart has debuted a new employee-exclusive app that will help workers get through the day. Me@Walmart will let workers view their shifts up to two weeks in advance, check on their upcoming paid time off and make schedule change requests. The app will also provide employees with a virtual clock-in feature. Workers can use the app to communicate through push-to-talk capabilities, eliminating the need for walkie-talkies.

Read More: Why Walmart is giving employees free Galaxy XCover Pro smartphones

Weedmaps

WM Holding Company, a technology and software platform that services the cannabis industry, has partnered with student loan benefit provider Goodly to offer its 400 employees assistance in paying down their college debt. The benefit will help Weedmaps stand out from the competition, while helping their staff pay off debt.

Read More: Student debt relief is a high priority for Weedmaps
MORE FROM EMPLOYEE BENEFIT NEWS