Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Ltd. is expanding its coverage for mental-health and family-building benefits as part of its strategy to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion throughout its benefits plan.

The family-owned bottling company made a promise to its partner, the Coca-Cola Co., that it would build a multi-generational business and create a safe and inclusive workplace that reflects the diversity of Canada, says Elaine Cheung, Coke Canada’s director of total rewards.

She notes employees want a benefits plan that also supports their families. “We wanted to look at our benefits not just from a holistic point of view but also from a DEI lens [in terms of] what we could do to continue to support our employees [and] keep them engaged.”

Read: Q&A with Coca-Cola Canada’s Martha Callum

Last year, Coke Canada temporarily increased its psychology benefits coverage from $1,500 to $5,000 per year to help employees during the coronavirus pandemic, while expanding the coverage to include social workers and psychotherapists. In 2023, the $5,000 maximum will be added to the plan on a permanent basis and the organization intends to expand coverage further to include registered clinical counsellors and marriage and family therapists.

The company is also significantly increasing its fertility drugs coverage, from $3,000 to a $20,000 lifetime maximum per employee. In addition, the company is adding new non-drug fertility treatments to the plan with another $20,000 lifetime maximum coverage.

To further ensure its providing support to all employees, Coke Canada is introducing gender affirmation coverage that includes core and enhanced coverage up to a $20,000 lifetime maximum, continuous glucose monitoring for employees or their dependants with type 1 diabetes, as well as covering the cost of wigs for employees with alopecia.

Read: 90% of U.S. employers planning to invest more in mental-health benefits in 2022: survey

The company is also increasing its vision care amount and beefing up its plan to include smoking cessation coverage, anti-obesity treatment, sexual dysfunction treatment and speech therapy.

“The owners really believe in the power of families,” says Cheung. “And they believe if they support their employees’ well-being, those employees will in turn support and serve [the organization’s] consumers and communities.”