Over her nine years as the director of North American benefits at American education technology company Chegg, Tracy Clemente has faced plenty of challenges. But one particular obstacle stood in her way for five years: her company’s lack of comprehensive fertility benefits. Clemente was certain that many of her colleagues were likely privately seeking ways to build and expand their families. Following her instincts and staying true to her convictions, Clemente made a case for Carrot — here’s how she did it.
What led you to a career in benefits?
Quite honestly, I fell into it. In 1996, I worked as an executive admin at a financial institution, and there was an opening in HR for a catch-all position. I took it, and I got to touch every aspect of HR. However, the benefits person gave notice three weeks later — right at the beginning of open enrollment. So, my boss asked me if I wanted to give benefits a try.
Before then, benefits were something that scared me. I thought of benefits like taxes — not a pleasant experience. Everything was done by paper back then, in triplicate. But that meant I understood what it was like having some trepidation with benefits, and it ultimately made me a better benefits person. I try to humanize it as much as possible because benefits are meant to work for you, not against you.
How would you describe your benefits philosophy?
One size does not fit all.
When I’m looking at our overall package, benefits must be for everyone, not just a certain segment of our population. For example, in family planning, does your benefit encompass the entire scope of pregnancy planning and beyond?
My philosophy is to meet people where they are. You spend a lot of time finding the right person to come in and fill a role, so you want them to be able to grow in both their career and their personal life while at your company. So it’s incredibly important to me that benefits meet people where they are and that they are for everyone.
What led to bringing on fertility and family-building benefits at Chegg? What was that process like?
Several years ago, Chegg had some infertility coverage through a PPO plan, but it was very limited. Chegg has a population where a good amount of people are of the demographic that they’re building their families, but we weren’t hearing from people who were having fertility struggles. Eventually, that started to change. I started hearing from people who wanted to know what their options beyond draining their 401(k)s or selling all of their stock options. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a solution for them.
So, I engaged with Carrot and started learning more about it. For the next five years, every time I went to our CEO and CFO with benefits proposals, we didn’t succeed in getting fertility benefits approved. The feedback was that they would benefit only a small segment of our employee population; I explained that it likely would impact far more people than we expected, but because fertility is considered a more private topic, I didn’t necessarily anticipate hearing about it from those who needed it. I also felt a lot of conviction in that, so I persisted.
Over time, a few things happened that were key to bringing on fertility benefits: our PPO enrollment declined, we started receiving feedback that people wanted a richer fertility benefit that wasn't tied to a medical plan, and all of these awards started coming out for companies: best places to work, best places for families, etc., which we had been winning. But then, one year, we lost one of those awards, and the deciding factor was the lack of infertility coverage. We had also just decided that it was time for us to self-fund our medical plan.
From there, it was an easy decision: We took the savings from self-funding and reinvested them into programs. That year, we invested in six programs, including Carrot. When we rolled it out, we had 12% engagement within three weeks.
How did you make the case for Carrot to your executives? What resonated with them most?
I think the numbers spoke for themselves — we were going to experience savings by going self-funded, and it was clear that something like Carrot would help with those savings compared to something like an infertility rider through our health insurance. It also helped that I’d been building up a data case for fertility benefits for five years! But the ROI was very clear. I also think the fact that we lost one of our top workplaces awards made everyone start looking more closely at the benefits we offer.
Today, it’s easy to continue making the case for Carrot with utilization reports. It is amazing to see where employees are actually using the services — I was really surprised that egg preservation is almost being used more than IVF! Ultimately, hearing the stories of how this benefit is impacting the people I work with every day is why I get up in the morning and do what I do.
What, ultimately, set Carrot apart from other vendors?
I didn’t see anything that compared to Carrot. That was true when I first met the Carrot team years ago, and it’s true now. Beyond that, I liked the whole concept of how Carrot came to be. Some of my best vendors are companies that were born out of the desire to meet a specific need. There's that personal connection, and you feel it in the people who work there. I’m very big on relationships; there was just something about the one-on-one interaction with the team. The people behind the scenes so clearly pour themselves into their work.
I've been pleased with Carrot, and so have our employees. In benefits, employees are very quick to give you negative feedback, and it’s very rare that you hear the positives. But when it comes to Carrot, we continue to get a resounding, positive response — people keep telling others how awesome it is.
At the end of the day, it's just been a great partnership. Carrot is constantly making improvements and really listening to our feedback.
What are you most excited about in benefits right now?
We’re seeing a lot more in terms of caregiver leave, meaning that if my mom were sick or in hospice, I would at least be able to take time off from work and deal with that. Before these types of benefits existed, there weren’t any resources to help individuals navigate situations like those other than mental health services or employee assistance programs (EAPs). Now, vendors are popping up to help and can offer tried-and-true resources to coordinate meals, pick up kids from school, and manage everything after a parent passes. People are overwhelmed in these situations, and this type of support means they don’t have to go it alone.
What do you wish more people knew about benefits?
Your benefits are there to work with and for you, not against you.
What advice would you give someone hoping to start a career in benefits?
If you like solving problems and dealing with people, go for it! It’s also important to know that this is a job where you’ll be heads down in a lot of analytics and problem solving — and making truly impactful changes for people — so you should like those things. You won't be sorry about making that decision!
What do you love most about your work?
I love hearing people's stories. Being part of people's experiences, whether or not they ever remember me, is special — it means that the work I'm doing is changing people’s lives.
Want to bring comprehensive, lifelong fertility support to your organization? Get in touch with our team today.
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