How Lyft built a holistic fertility benefits program

Would family-forming benefits genuinely impact your workforce, or are these programs doomed to be underutilized? If you ask Tanner Brunsdale, director of benefits and mobility at Lyft, these offerings are nothing short of life-changing.

"I met my husband 15 years ago, and we always knew we wanted to become parents," says Brunsdale. "But it wasn't until I had access to family-forming benefits that I was able to work with a care navigator who helped me through the entire adoption process. Last year, my husband and I got a call, and our lives changed overnight."

At EBN's 2024 Benefits at Work conference, Brunsdale spoke with Haleigh Tebben, chief commercial officer at fertility benefits provider Kindbody, about what it meant to welcome their daughter Olivia into their family. Since partnering with Kindbody, Lyft has helped workers build 33 families over the last three years. But it takes more than IVF benefits to build a holistic fertility and family-forming program that workers can truly benefit from, Brunsdale emphasizes.

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From adoption support and LGBTQ fertility treatment guidance to male fertility care and egg freezing, Kindbody works with employers to offer a variety of ways to start and expand one's family. The benefits provider also combines telehealth with in-person care available in all 50 states. Tebben stresses that regardless of how parents want to build their families, they need to connect with real providers and experts — and that means going beyond digital healthcare.

"We think of a multimodal approach as critical to success," says Tebben. "At Kindbody, you have the ability to make a virtual appointment, go locally for labs or any assessments you need and then transfer to a Kindbody clinic. And as much as we all love digital health, we all love to be able to pick up a phone, especially with [something] as emotional as fertility care, and ask questions."

Read more: These LGBTQ couples are building a family with Progyny's fertility benefits

However, a multimodal approach doesn't necessarily mean companies must spend more on their benefits. According to Brunsdale, Lyft has saved $2.4 million by working with Kindbody, relative to what they would have spent working with other benefits providers for a similar program. This meant Lyft could put more money toward helping workers afford the services right for them. Brunsdale notes that before Kindbody, Lyft only offered a $10,000 lifetime benefit; the benefit is now as high as $40,000, and workers can use it for adoption, IVF treatment, surrogacy and more. 

"We see a couple of savings: One is because we own our clinics, and you can have a direct contract with us. We also save money on the pharmacy side," says Tebben. "There's a lot of costs around IVF and medications, and we get competitive pricing for our [clients]."

Read more: Giving birth, then back to work: Having the baby

Brunsdale advises employers to look for benefits partners that not only offer an array of services but also a transparent look at the value of their services. If benefit leaders want their family-forming offerings to make a difference to their workers, then those offerings have to be accessible and affordable. Whether they're same-sex couples, single parents-to-be or a couple struggling with infertility, workers should feel their dreams are possible, says Brunsdale. 

"There's so much on the internet, you can get lost for hours searching for answers on your own," he adds. "Having a place for support, whatever your family forming journey is, it's just been amazing to have."