Women's Health Benefits for a Workforce That's Overwhelmingly Women
Nursing assistants, home health aides, and RNs are the backbone of Massachusetts senior care — and they are disproportionately women navigating pregnancy, family building, menopause, and caregiving responsibilities of their own, often while caring for other people's aging parents. Benefits built with that reality in mind are not a perk; they're a workforce strategy.
Sources: BLS Current Population Survey, Table 11 (2025); PHI National (Sept 2025); AARP/National Alliance for Caregiving, "Caregiving in the US 2025" (July 2025); Mercer, Survey on Health & Benefit Strategies for 2025.
Why It Matters Here Specifically
This Isn't a General Women's Health Page — It's a Workforce Strategy
Every category below intersects directly with recruiting and retaining the people who staff nursing homes, assisted living communities, home health agencies, and hospice programs across Massachusetts.
Pregnancy Support
Maternal care navigation, family planning, and parental leave coordination help retain staff through one of the most disruptive life events an employee will face — and reduce the chance a trained caregiver leaves the field altogether.
Family Building
Fertility navigation and family-building support are expanding fast: 42% of employers now offer fertility benefits (up from 40% in 2022 and 30% in 2020), and IVF is covered by 47% of large employers, 70% among the very largest.
Source: IFEBP via SHRM, 2024; Mercer newsroom, 2024.
Menopause Support
Sleep disruption, hormonal changes, and workplace impact from menopause are finally being addressed: about 5% of employers now offer menopause-specific benefits and 17% offer related counseling or education, with more planning to add resources.
Source: SHRM 2024 Employee Benefits Survey; Mercer, Survey on Health & Benefit Strategies for 2025.
Mental Health
Anxiety, depression, and compassion fatigue run high in caregiving roles. Access to EAPs and teletherapy gives staff a private, low-friction way to get support before burnout drives them out the door.
Caregiver Stress
Many employees are caregivers themselves outside of work — 29% are sandwich-generation caregivers overall, rising to 47% among caregivers under 50. Backup care and navigation services ease that dual burden.
Source: AARP/National Alliance for Caregiving, "Caregiving in the US 2025," July 2025.
Preventive Care
Routine screenings and annual wellness visits keep small health issues small. For a workforce that's often too busy caring for others to prioritize their own checkups, easy access matters.
Breast Cancer Support
General awareness, screening access, and navigation support during and after treatment help employees stay connected to their care team — and to their job — through a difficult diagnosis.
Virtual Care
Telehealth removes the scheduling barrier that keeps shift-based caregivers from seeing their own providers. A quick virtual visit can happen between shifts instead of costing a full day off.
Women's Wellness Programs
Lactation support, wellness coaching, and adoption leave round out a benefits package built around real life stages. Onsite/paid lactation support reached 73% of employers in 2024, up from 54% in 2023; paid adoption leave sits at 37%.
Source: SHRM Employee Benefits Surveys, 2024; IFEBP via SHRM, 2024.
Want the full picture across your benefits strategy?
See how women's health fits alongside mental health, menopause, and caregiver support on our Benefits That Matter hub, or talk to us about your renewal.