Navigating reproductive rights with your employees
Do your employees care about your company’s stance on reproductive rights?
The answer is yes. Well, some of them.
Only 5% of US employees ranked ‘reproductive rights’ as an issue for their employer to make a difference on.
Recently, The Harris Poll fielded our 2022 Employee Activation Index questions. We looked at some early data related to reproductive rights and employee well-being.
Supreme Court Leak & Failure to Pass the Women’s Health Protection Act has implications for your female employees
In the wake of an unprecedented Supreme Court leak, the Senate voted on The Women’s Health Protection Act. This Act would have codified a woman’s right to an abortion with few restrictions. With 51 to 49 votes, the measure failed to pass.
As noted, Integral recently fielded its 2022 Employee Activation Index with The Harris Poll. Our study presented 26 societal and political topics for employed North Americans to consider. Which did they value? Which were the issues they wanted their employer to take action on? Our updated survey was underway just before the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion made public the intention to put an end to Roe v. Wade.
A fairly even gender split on importance of reproductive rights for employers
This 2022 fielding of the Integral Employee Activation Index found that of employees wanting their employer to make a difference on reproductive rights 48% were women, 50% were men, and 2% were non-cisgender. Our study did not define what “make a difference” would constitute. But it is important to note the relatively even gender split on this issue.
An ABC poll found three-quarters of Americans say abortion access should be left to women and their doctors.
Findings have implications for employers to act on
In summer 2021, Integral fielded our inaugural Employee Activation Index. At that time, we found that 6% of respondents selected abortion as an issue of importance for employers to take action on. Gen Z (ages 18-23) and Millennials (ages 24-39) ranked abortion higher than other generations. Since 1973, Roe v Wade has guaranteed abortion rights in the United States. Millions of women grew up in a world where Roe was the law of the land and reproductive rights were put into the hands of individual women.
There likely will be a domino effect for corporations from the defeat of The Women’s Health Protection Act and the potentially imminent overturn of Roe.
Implications for employers
Certainly, this ruling will have enormous ramifications for businesses as they talk about the importance of employee well-being. Already, a number of well-known brands have updated their healthcare policies. For example, organizations will provide employees with coverage for inter-state travel to access their healthcare.
Perhaps the most important insight? Employee health and well-being consistently tops the ranking for what employees want the employers to stand up for.
However, there’s been no consensus about how companies should approach this issue on behalf of their employees. Some, such as Disney, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and American Airlines have remained silent.
While others, such as Levi Strauss, Yelp, Amazon, Citigroup, Virgin, and OKCupid, have spoken out on behalf of helping their female employees. women with travel expenses and more.
Moving forward
For sure, there will be changes coming. This means that will need to consider these in light of an increasingly polarized world. Consequently, business leaders have some thinking to do, decisions to make, and actions considering the effects this ruling will have on every organization’s most valuable public…their employees.
Join Us
Integral will release a full report of our Employee Activation Index mid-summer 2022. Before then, we will continue reviewing and analyzing the 2022 Index results. In the coming weeks, we will share additional insights to help businesses improve the employee experience.
In the meantime, follow us on LinkedIn and join our newsletter mailing list to get early releases of our 2022 Index findings.