Marketing Briefing: ‘Detrimental impact on millions of Americans’: Agencies, brands respond to Roe overturn by covering travel for employees in need of abortion care

By Kristina Monllos

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade companies like Reddit, Meta, Airbnb, among others, said they would cover travel costs for employees who may now need to travel to access abortion care.

Agency holding companies including IPG, Publicis, Omnicom, Dentsu and WPP also said they would cover travel costs for employees, with some of the holding companies reaffirming the position after issuing notice of the policy following the draft leak of the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this spring.

Marketers and agency execs say they are focused on making sure employees, especially those in states where abortion access is now unavailable, know about the updated health care policies. And agency execs say that they are advising clients to focus on their employees and people at their companies and to make the wellbeing of their staff the focus now.

“Today’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade undermined 50 years of advancement for women and reproductive rights,” wrote John Wren, chairman and CEO of Omnicom Group in a message to employees last Friday. “The decision will have a detrimental impact on millions of Americans, and we share the anxiety and frustration felt by many of you.”

Reddit, Airbnb, IPG, Publicis, Omnicom, Dentsu and WPP all either forwarded statements or offered commentary from a spokesperson to confirm the companies positions on offering travel coverage for employees. Havas, Meta and Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the earlier brands to announce it would support employee travel with a statement from its CEO on LinkedIn that then went viral, did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Most companies did not respond to requests for comment on the specifics of the policies – i.e. will an employee have to disclose their abortion to their employer to access the benefit? Will it work as a reimbursement? Will employees have to discuss it with HR?

A Dentsu spokesperson specified that “all claims and guidance on care, including how and where to seek service, go through the insurance carrier and not the employer, so all confidentiality applies the same as it would for any medical procedure.”

Meanwhile a Reddit spokesperson explained that, “reproductive health services are already covered by several of our health plans, and our benefits cover all employees, regardless of their location. If employees need to travel in order to access medical care, they can utilize a yearly stipend benefit to cover travel costs and our unlimited paid time off policy.”

One holding company HR exec who requested anonymity gave an example that if an employee is based in a state where abortion care is now inaccessible, an employee would go to their health insurance provider, file a claim and would then be reimbursed. That process would not require that employee to communicate specifically with their agency or holding company but instead with their insurance provider to get reimbursed.

Aside from communicating internal policies to employees, marketers and agency execs are sorting out corporate positions, public statements …read more

Source:: Digiday