Women’s History Month: Benefits That Matter Most to Women

Quick look: Good news this Women’s History Month: more women than ever are rising to C-suite roles and advancing in their careers. However, challenges remain, including wage and promotion equity, financial wellness, and caregiving responsibilities. Here’s how brokers can help clients offer benefits that support and empower this important, valuable segment of the workforce.

Work is an ever-evolving experience for women. And while many industries have made progress toward gender equality, challenges like wage gaps, leadership barriers, and societal expectations persist.

Read on to learn about women’s experiences in the workplace, the many advantages they bring, and how brokers can design inclusive benefits packages to help them succeed both professionally and personally.

Women at work (and home)

To identify benefits that truly support women, it’s essential to understand their experiences both in the workplace and in their personal lives.

Ambitious, but still slowly rising the ranks

McKinsey’s Women in the Workplace 2024 study surveyed over 15,000 employees from nearly 300 companies and explored women’s growing representation (and continued struggles) across the career ladder. For instance, the report found that:

• In 2024, women comprised 29% of C-suite positions (versus 17% in 2015).
• Of those C-suite roles, women of color hold just 7% of them, while white women hold 22%.
• Progress has been slower for other positions, with 48% and 39% of entry- and manager-level jobs being held by women in 2024 versus 45% and 37% in 2015, respectively.
• 70% of all women (the same amount as men) want to be promoted to the next level this year, with 80% of younger women seeking a promotion.

Despite progress in some regards, McKinsey estimates that it will take nearly 50 years for the representation of white women and women of color in senior leadership positions to reflect their share of the U.S. population.

✓ What can brokers do? Achieving equality for women in the workplace begins with equitable hiring. Brokers can match their clients with a professional employer organization (PEO) that supports unbiased recruiting by utilizing AI-based tools to remove certain identifying factors—something McKinsey found that just 1 in 10 businesses do. PEOs may also share other tips on how to recruit fairly and help companies provide ample professional development opportunities through mentorship program development, access to a learning and development portal, and more.

Working and caregiving

Employees with caregiving responsibilities are the fastest-growing worker segment, with an estimated 73% of all workers juggling caretaking and paid jobs. Collectively, Americans’ unpaid care is worth more than $1 trillion annually, and women do 65% of this work.

Working caregivers endure many struggles, however, the right benefits can ease the pressure. A survey of over 700 women employees who also provide elder care found that three of the top benefits they seek are:

1. Flexibility, including hybrid or remote work, flex hours, etc.
2. Paid leave for caretaking
3. Help with stress management

The McKinsey study reiterates these findings, highlighting that supporting employees who are parents, caregivers, or struggling with health challenges is linked to higher rates of happiness and better employee retention.

✓ What can brokers do? Brokers can work with a PEO to connect small businesses with HR experts to assist them with developing flexible work and leave policies, navigating Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) compliance, and accessing top-tier employee benefits, including employee assistance programs (EAPs).

The financial wellness gap

Women also have a disproportionate experience when it comes to financial wellness, during their working years and beyond.

And while many employers have adjusted pay strategies, for some, the gender pay gap remains persistent. On average, women currently earn 84 cents for every dollar a man earns, and the gap is even larger for women of color.

Unfortunately, the inequality continues into retirement. According to the American Association of University Women, a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls, women have just 70% of the overall retirement income that men have.

Additionally, women are more likely than men to be less financially stable later in life, as the poverty rate is higher for women than men ages 65 and older—an especially troublesome statistic considering women live about six years longer than men, on average.

✓ What can brokers do? By partnering with a PEO, brokers can align their clients with various benefits and tools to boost employee financial well-being, like retirement savings plans, personal finance training, and programs to evaluate pay, turnover, and promotion trends across gender demographics.

What women bring to the table

Working women deliver enormous advantages to their employers. For example, they are associated with:

• Increased job satisfaction
• Improved collaboration
• Unique perspectives
• More supportive, flexible workplaces

Businesses with more women in executive-level roles also typically outperform their competitors in profitability, market share, and overall shareholder returns. For example, shareholder returns from woman-led S&P 500 companies are 384%, and returns from man-led organizations are 261%.

How brokers can tailor benefits to support women

One of the best ways to empower working women is by aligning them with the right employee benefits. As a broker, you can help clients attract and retain this valuable population by building a benefits package tailored to their needs, including:

• 401(k) plan: Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can equip women to prepare for their futures by offering a 401(k) plan with a company match, if possible. Better yet, when employers participate in a plan provided by a PEO, virtually all administrative tasks are offloaded to other parties.
• Health insurance with FSA/HSA options: More men than women have a health savings account (HSA), and their cash and investment balances are higher. Employers can help narrow that gap by choosing a health insurance plan that includes HSA and flexible savings account (FSA) options. FSAs can also pay for eligible dependent care services, including child and adult daycare, before or after school programs, preschool, and summer day camps.
• Student loan repayment: Women hold 64% of all student loan debt, making student loan repayment benefits especially appealing to them.
• Flexibility: With so many working women juggling personal and professional demands, a flexible work environment is key. Brokers can encourage clients to provide:
  • Remote and hybrid work: Remote work and an accommodating schedule make life easier in many ways—from being able to quickly step away to pick up a child from school to being available to administer medicine to an aging parent.
  • Part-time employment opportunities: SMBs can support working caregivers by offering flexible part-time schedules or hiring an additional part-time employee to help balance workload demands while maintaining productivity.
• Access to an EAP: An EAP can offer the proper support (at no cost to the employee) exactly when women need it most by giving confidential advice, 24/7, on a variety of topics like physical and mental health, financial wellness, and more.
• Other helpful benefits, like access to breastfeeding support services for working mothers of young children.

Level the playing field with a PEO partner

The process of creating an equitable workplace for women can be simplified when brokers choose to partner with a PEO. A broker-friendly PEO like ExtensisHR can provide robust, personalized benefits, and access to a dashboard to compare real-time information about pay equity, promotions, and more.

Want to provide the best support for your clients’ workforce? Contact ExtensisHR to discover how we can help.