Some employees not happy about their organization taking a stance on the issue
Corporations that offer assistance through benefits such as travel reimbursement to their employees looking for abortion care were met with various responses, a study posted on SSRN revealed, as reported by Forbes.
Some of the large companies that were reportedly offering this benefit were Apple, Amazon, Citigroup, Disney, Starbucks, Target, and Tesla.
The study examined data from Indeed and Glassdoor and analyzed 3 billion clicks on US job postings and 6.5 million company reviews. It was conducted by researchers from Indeed, the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, and the IZA Institute of Labor Economics.
The research found that this move for abortion care was met with both positive and negative responses from employees.
Increase in recruitment and job posting interest
In companies that announced their offer to provide abortion access coverage, there was nearly an 8% increase in the number of clicks on job postings on Indeed. This was profoundly seen in jobs that are usually female dominated.
It was also shown in a study from LeanIn.Org that most of the employees that fall under the age of 40 expressed their desire to work for corporations that supported abortion access, regardless of what their political views are.
Many of them showed a willingness to consider switching their jobs in order to continue having such benefits.
Negative responses
According to Glassdoor, there was a drop in ratings for senior management and company culture in companies that announced their benefits that included those relating to abortion. This was significantly seen in jobs that are typically dominated by men.
The researchers of the SSRN study said that the displeasure of such employees may have stemmed from their personal opinions regarding abortion as well as the thought that corporations should not take a stance regarding such issues.
Logan Green, CEO of Lyft, a transportation service provider, had been threatened by legislators in Texas following his tweet about the company’s move to cover travel costs of employees who need to travel more than 100 miles for abortion care.
The Conservative Political Action Coalition (CPAC) created a list of companies that provided such benefits which is based on the companies that announced policies following the ruling that reshaped the law surrounding abortion.
Offering abortion benefits still an advantageous move
Despite the polarizing effect of such policies, Emily Nix, a professor of finance and business economics at the University of Southern California and one of the authors of the study said that the increase in search interest for firms that provided such benefits is worth 12% in wages while those whose employees do not support such policies only increased wages by 4%.
“Of course, it will take more time to see if the boon to recruiting leads to gains in long-term profitability for these firms,” she added.
