Feb 27, 2020

Chicago-based law firm Neal Gerber Eisenberg has expanded its wellness focused benefits by offering its almost 300 employees help with family planning and caregiver support. The firm’s attorneys and staff now have access to Nubundle, which provides access to a family planning concierge, preferred access and pricing at top clinics, lower-priced medications, and additional payment options. For those taking care of an aging parent or other elderly loved one, the firm partnered with Homethrive, which helps manage those care needs through coaching and connection with a social worker. “We started thinking about things from a more holistic perspective,” says Sonia Menon, chief people officer at Neal Gerber Eisenberg. “It’s not just about giving [employees] good medical insurance. It’s about looking at all of the different factors that might impact their lives.” These additional benefits are part of the firm’s Being Well initiative, which was launched last year and includes a host of other wellness offerings. Lawyers and staff at Neal Gerber Eisenberg are given resources, activities and training workshops on topics ranging from substance abuse, heart health and stress management, to digital wellness, meditation and sleep programs. Almost all employers (87%) cover some kind of infertility treatment through their health plans, according to data from the Business Group on Health. But employees can find themselves at a loss on where to go for guidance, making a related employer provided benefit a valuable tool. Elder care benefits have also started to make their way into the mainstream, but just 10% of organizations offer referral services, the most common elder care benefit, according to data from the Society for Human Resource Management. “Talking to [employees], we would hear about things that were really creating stressors and we tried to think about, as a firm, if we could help in any way,” Menon says. Employees at the firm were concerned about family planning, especially as more young adults are waiting longer before having children. Female associates were becoming curious about fertility treatments and egg freezing, while male associates wanted to provide their partners with the same resources. At the same time, the firm noticed that some employees were overwhelmed by an aging loved one’s needs, especially when caregiving while working a full-time job. Several of the firm’s staff have expressed to Menon how these services opened them up to a world of support resources they didn’t know existed. “It stems from the basic idea that we care about our employees. We care about what is keeping them up at night and causing them stress,” Menon says of these programs. “We expect a lot of our people. We expect them to work hard and we have an obligation to take care of them.”