From Fertility to Menopause: Why Women’s Health Benefits Must Go Beyond Maternity

Workplace benefits for women must extend beyond maternity to cover the full spectrum of health stages including fertility, menopause, and chronic conditions, reflecting the diverse needs of a growing female workforce in management roles. This broader approach supports employee well-being, engagement, and retention globally.

A broader perspective on women’s health benefits

Many organisations still approach women’s health through a narrow lens, with workplace benefits focused primarily on maternity. In reality, women’s health spans a far wider continuum, encompassing fertility, pregnancy, menopause, and the many health and life transitions in between.

The broader impact is increasingly visible in workforce data. In a 2025 survey that covered 42 countries, 70% of respondents reported losing 1-5 days of productivity in the past month due to women’s health issues.[1] This highlights the effect that gaps in support can have on day-to-day performance and well-being.

With women now holding 31% of management positions globally[2], there is a growing imperative for employers to design benefits that reflect the full spectrum of life stages, ensuring employees are supported consistently throughout their careers.

For multinational employers, this challenge is even more complex. Differences in healthcare systems, cultural attitudes, and access across regions can create inconsistencies that leave employees feeling unsupported. A well-designed, global approach to life-stage health benefits can strengthen workforce performance, improve resilience, and support long-term talent retention.

The gap between employee needs and workplace benefits support

Employee health and well-being needs are not linear. However, benefits frameworks often are. Many organisations offer structured support at specific moments, most notably maternity, but provide limited support before or after.

This disconnect is increasingly reflected in workforce sentiment. The yearly Cigna Healthcare International Health Study 2025[3] finds that fewer than half of employees feel supported by their employer, with women and those experiencing lower vitality among the least likely to report adequate support.

At the same time, expectations are rising. A Glassdoor survey from 2021 shows that 67% of job seekers consider a diverse workplace an important factor when deciding whether to accept a role[4], underscoring the growing link between inclusion and talent competitiveness.

However, inclusion cannot be treated as a tick-box exercise. It requires a deliberate approach to benefit design that supports the vitality and well-being of women and their families throughout their careers. Yet progress remains uneven. Research from Salt indicates that perceptions of workplace inclusivity for women have stagnated, with no improvement in the proportion of respondents describing their workplace as “somewhat inclusive” over the past two years[5]. Where employees do perceive inclusion, trust and confidence in the employer tend to be stronger, reinforcing the role that inclusive benefits play in shaping both employee experience and organisational reputation.

For employers, healthcare benefits that don’t support life stages represent more than a perception risk. A lack of support across key stages can contribute to:

• Increased stress and reduced mental well-being
• Lower levels of engagement and productivity
• Higher attrition, particularly among mid-career talent

In a competitive global talent market, these outcomes can directly affect organisational performance.

Global employee benefits: navigating complexity

For organisations operating globally, designing effective benefits is rarely straightforward. Variations in public and private healthcare coverage, alongside differences in access, regulation, and cultural expectations, can create significant complexity.

For example:

• Fertility treatments may be widely available in some countries but restricted or costly in others.
• Menopause support remains uneven globally, both in terms of awareness and clinical pathways.
• Parental and health policies differ significantly, creating disparities in employee experience.
• Approaches to women’s health concerns like hormonal health, endometriosis, PMOS/PCOS, and autoimmune conditions can vary significantly from region to region.

These inconsistencies can be especially challenging for globally mobile employees, who may face fragmented or unclear support as they move between locations. Employers can begin to close these gaps by assessing where access, awareness, and coverage differ across regions, and aligning their benefits strategy to provide more consistent support.

Frameworks such as those offered in Mercer’s Global Talent Trends report[6]  highlight the importance of balancing global consistency with local relevance when designing inclusive benefits strategies. According to the Mercer’s survey on health and benefits strategies for 2026, 59% of employers will offer one or more benefits related to women’s health and reproduction[7].

Why a life-stage approach to women’s health matters

A life-stage approach to women’s health means supporting employees across the full continuum of health needs, not just isolated events. While fertility, maternity, and menopause are key milestones, they represent only part of a broader set of health needs that influence employee well-being, performance, and retention.

Across the career lifecycle, women commonly navigate:

• Early career and preventive health: menstrual and hormonal health, contraception access, mental well-being
• Mid-career and chronic conditions: endometriosis, autoimmune disorders, fertility preservation
• Caregiving life stage: children and ageing parents, managing dual caregiving responsibilities
• Later career and hormonal transition: menopause, bone health, cardiovascular risk

When benefits are designed around discrete events rather than this continuum, gaps often emerge—particularly during periods when employees are managing overlapping health and life demands.

A life-stage approach enables employers to:

• Strengthen employee engagement and trust
• Improve resilience during transitions
• Retain experienced, mid-level to senior-level talent
• Enhance employer brand across diverse, global workforces

As more women progress into leadership roles, adopting a holistic approach is increasingly critical to sustaining talent, supporting continuity, and driving long-term organisational performance.

How employers can close the women’s health benefits gap

To better align benefits with workforce needs, employers can take a more integrated, globally informed approach to women’s health.

Six actions for global employers

1. Expand benefits beyond maternity
   Ensure that benefits frameworks address the full continuum of women’s health, including fertility support, endometriosis care, menopause care, broader women’s health issues such as autoimmune conditions, and ongoing preventive health needs.
2. Build consistency across global markets
   While local adaptation is essential, aim for a core level of consistency in access and support across regions to reduce disparities for global employees.
3. Focus on accessibility and awareness
   Providing benefits is not enough. Employees must understand what support is available and how to access it, particularly in complex cross-border environments.
4. Incorporate preventive and early intervention strategies
   Encourage early engagement with health services across life stages, helping to reduce long-term health risks and support sustained well-being.
5. Embed inclusivity into benefits design
   Recognise the diverse experiences of women across different cultures, life stages, and career paths, ensuring that support is relevant and inclusive to all employee journeys.
6. Align health strategy with business outcomes
   Treat women’s health as part of a broader workforce strategy, linking well-being initiatives to engagement, productivity, and retention goals.

A strategic opportunity for global employers

Employers today have a clear opportunity to rethink how they support women’s health across the workforce. Partnering with the right benefits providers who have programmes to support individuals and families at every stage of their health journey is key.

By moving beyond a maternity-focused model and adopting a more comprehensive, life-stage approach, organisations can address the support gap while strengthening their overall workforce strategy. In doing so, they are not only responding to evolving employee expectations, but also building a more resilient, engaged, and productive global workforce.

Sources

1. HBA: Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (2025). https://hbanet.org/news/2025/01/21/when-women-healthcare-struggle-their-own-health-healthcare-sector-suffers-global
2. LinkedIn Economic Graph: The State of Women in Leadership (2026). the-state-of-women-in-leadership-march-2026.pdf
3. Cigna Healthcare International Health (2025). Global Well-being & Vitality Study. https://www.cignaglobal.com/global-well-being-and-vitality
4. Glassdoor (2021). What Job Seekers Really Think About Your Diversity and Inclusion Stats. Recruiting a Diverse Workforce | Glassdoor for Employers
5. Salt (2025). Women in the Workplace Progress Report 2026: Measuring True Inclusion. https://welovesalt.com/insights/women-in-the-workplace-progress-report
6. Mercer (2026). Global Talent Trends 2026: Solving the human–machine equation
   https://www.mercer.com/insights/people-strategy/future-of-work/global-talent-trends/
7. Mercer (2025). Survey on Health and Benefit Strategies for 2026
   https://www.mercer.com/assets/us/en_us/shared-assets/local/attachments/pdf-2025-us-survey-on-health-and-benefit-strategies-for-2026.pdf