Why Should
Companies
Offer LGBT
Benefits?
BY DARYL C. HANNAH
Ann-Marie Yap never planned to
stay at Cisco Systems for a decade.
She initially viewed her job as vice president of information technology as a career
stepping-stone. So when the San Jose–based tech company asked her to relocate
from Atlanta to California, she saw it merely as an opportunity to make a lot of money.
“Cisco [employees] had a reputation of working a lot
of hours, and I knew I didn’t want that,” says Yap.
“I never wanted to work in Silicon Valley because of
the culture. But I figured I would suck it up for a few
years after the company moved me to California, and
then I’d do something else.”
But Yap’s desire to start a family with her partner
prevented her from making a swift career move. “
After we realized that we wanted to start a family, we
knew we couldn’t afford the nearly $30,000 [in-vitro
fertilization] procedure,” says Yap. “I began looking
into the benefits Cisco offered and found out that
Cisco would pay a significant portion of the costs.”
five years ago, despite the need for an emergency C-section. Anneke was then followed by Arie, the couple’s now-six-month-old. Total cost of the birth of
Arie (including medical complications for the baby):
$1,500. Why the significant increase to give birth
five years later? California laws for same-sex couples
who want children had changed, which reclassified
the procedures covered under Cisco’s adoption and
medical benefits for LGBT employees.
“Cisco’s benefits … have kept me here longer than
I expected,” says Yap. “This is the most comfortable
I’ve ever felt with a company.”
Thanks to Cisco’s comprehensive benefits package, which includes medical insurance for in-vitro
fertilization, Amy, Yap’s wife, was able to give birth
to Anneke—which cost the couple only a $10 copay
Key ‘Life Balance’ Tools
For progressive companies such as Cisco, No. 9 on
The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list, same-sex domestic-partner benefits,
