Use retirement and benefits to support the growing number of women in the workplace

Two business dynamics that have made an impact in the last few decades? Women’s participation in the workforce and women’s ownership of businesses. For example, just 34% of the women were in the workforce in 1950. Today, that number is just over 56%. And the number of female-owned businesses has more than doubled since 1994.

All of that has led to shifts in the workplace, particularly when it comes to benefits and retirement offerings. Here’s a sampling of what’s changed and how business adaptations may help you grow and retain talent, particularly for an ever-increasing number of working women.

Workplace benefits are a fairly recent offering, and they’ve shown capacity to adapt with the makeup of the workforce. Take paid family leave: Around 40% of employers provide this as a benefit. One instance when it’s used is for the birth of a child.

Some newer benefits now complement these traditional offerings; hospital indemnity insurance is an example. This voluntary benefit—a benefit that an employer choose to offer and that employees can choose to enroll in—allows employees to cover costs related to hospital stays, including child birth.

Women lag in total lifetime earnings for a number of reasons. There are career breaks: Women are 43% more likely than men to have them, which can disrupt earnings. The top reason? Becoming a full-time parent. There's a wage gap, too. Women earn 82 cents for every dollar a man earns. All those reasons build up so that by the end of their careers, women will have 30% less saved for retirement.

Retirement saving strategies may help. For example, saving as soon as you can and as much as you can, and leave savings alone, if you can, if you do have a career break.

Today’s business owners pay attention to their employees’ well-being: 43% express concerns about workers’ mental health and wellness. And women report higher levels of stress than men, including worries about finances. (Notably, financially stressed employees are three times less likely to stay with an employer). Two workplace offerings may help.

The vast majority of companies already offer employee assistance programs, or EAPs. These can be fairly wide ranging, including everything from caregiving resources to financial wellness programs. They’re often relatively inexpensive for employers to add to a benefits package and for employees to use, too. “We don’t magically leave our personal lives at the door when we enter our workplace,” says Kara Hoogensen, senior vice president of Benefits and Protection at Principal^®. “Employers are well-served to think about their team members as whole humans—people who will take care of business if the business takes care of them.”

And while more and more companies are luring employees back to offices, flexibility remains a preference, particularly for women. That may mean a shift in hours, or four 10-hour days, for example.  Amy Friedrich, president of Benefits and Protection, recounts a meeting she had with a new employee. “In the past, I might have said your top priority is to get your work done. But now I’ve added, ‘And where and when you get it done is up to you,’” Friedrich says. “I didn’t change the headline of my conversation, but I changed the subhead.” 

As business owners and decision makers, you know your workforce best, and can fine tune your benefits package to better retain that talent. You might already offer the retirement and benefits your changing workforce needs, but they may not know about them. A regular, consistent communication schedule can help.

“Benefits conversations shouldn’t just happen at enrollment time,” says Hoogensen. “It’s about being intentional in communicating: Here are the benefits we have, here’s the why behind the benefits that we're offering, and here are the needs that we anticipate those benefits are going to meet.”