The Big 5 Ad Holding Companies Are Supporting Their Employees' Reproductive Rights

Ad agencies are following suit, with most of the major holding companies committing to protecting reproductive rights of vulnerable employees. Previously, agencies had been rolling out more inclusive family planning policies, that include longer paid leaves after having a child, covering time off and the financial costs of adoption and paying for IVF treatments.

Adweek reached out to all the major holding companies, as well as some of the largest independent agencies, to see if and how they are protecting reproductive rights. The majority of the agencies Adweek contacted updated their policies to support employees’ right to choose when they become a parent. Several of the holding companies that responded said that they’re committing to provide equal access to healthcare for employees, regardless of location.

At the time of publication of this story, Stagwell had not responded to comment.

WPP

WPP sent Adweek its internal memo from CEO Mark Read explaining how it will support employees. Read told employees:

“To everyone at WPP in the United States

At WPP our people are the company and looking after your health and wellbeing is critical. We constantly evaluate our health benefits to make sure we are meeting the needs of our people and responding to any changes that affect them.

Many of you have spoken to me and your agency leadership teams following changes in the laws governing reproductive healthcare in the United States at the state level, and the leak of the Supreme Court’s draft majority opinion on Roe v. Wade.

We don’t know the full details or impact of these potential changes in reproductive rights yet, but we do know we want our people to have the same health coverage regardless of where they live. WPP is therefore updating its benefits plan to provide funding for travel that allows consistent access to healthcare and resources, including abortion care. This will apply to all our agencies in the United States; your leadership and People teams are of course fully engaged on this issue, and they will follow up with further details.

For those who might be finding things tough right now, remember that our Employee Assistance Programme, which offers confidential counselling and other kinds of help, is available free of charge to everyone.”

IPG

An IPG spokesperson told Adweek, “IPG is updating its healthcare benefits to provide funding for travel that allows consistent access to healthcare, including abortion and other critical medical services.”

The Martin Agency CEO Kristen Cavallo reached out to Adweek, separately, and said, “We believe when and if you become a parent is up to you. In support, we reimburse adoption, foster care and IVF expenses. We’re expanding benefits to cover the expenses of surrogacy assistance, and the expenses of elective egg or sperm freezing. And in the event your access changes where you live, we will provide a reimbursable travel stipend for you to receive the healthcare you choose.”

Publicis Groupe

A Publicis Groupe spokesperson told Adweek, “As we shared with our employees in global roundtable sessions last Wednesday, we will continue to support access to reproductive healthcare for all of our people throughout the U.S.—which includes supporting our employees with travel for abortion care, to allow for consistent access to healthcare and resources.”

Dentsu

Dentsu supplied the following update, “We are encouraged to see such robust industry support for consistent and equal access to women’s healthcare across the United States, and importantly, dentsu current healthcare benefits include the reimbursement of travel (inclusive of transportation, lodging and meals) expenses for any medical care service, including abortion, that isn’t available within a 50-mile radius of where one lives.”

Omnicom

Update: Omnicom has provided an official statement.

“Since Omnicom updated our healthcare policy in 2006, we have provided funding for necessary travel to access healthcare providers, including reproductive services. We will continue to ensure our people have access to health services no matter where they live in the U.S.

As we’ve said before, the health and well-being of our people is always our top priority. We continuously expand our range of comprehensive and quality benefits to support the diverse and evolving needs of our employees.”

Stagwell

Stagwell has yet to respond to request for comment, but Maggie Malek, the CEO of MMI, a Stagwell agency, announced on LinkedIn that “While we have employees that live in states that have laws in place protecting the right to access to healthcare, we also have employees who live in states with varying laws. MMI will continue to support our employees right to privacy and access to healthcare. We will cover the cost of all travel expenses to ensure access to that critical care.”

Havas

Havas has not yet updated its policies, but a Havas creative spokesperson shared, “This important conversation and potentially historic decision is a critical topic of conversation for Havas creative leadership. While we don’t have details to share just yet, we’re discussing various ways to meaningfully support our employees.“

Wieden+Kennedy

Wieden+Kennedy’s employees are largely located in states that already protect reproductive rights, but it will also cover any remote workers in states that don’t.

“W+K has covered abortion benefits (no out-of-pocket costs, covered at 100%) for many years, as we have always supported our employees’ rights to choose. Our insurance coverage will remain the same, and it extends to any person covered by our health insurance, including partners and dependents. What changes for us is now we will cover travel costs for any employee, partner, or dependent, living in a state where their reproductive rights have been jeopardized.”