Our Performance Standard

The RMH Compass Performance Standard evaluates how employers support the full spectrum of reproductive and maternal (RMH) health — through their health plans, benefits, workplace policies, and overall work environment.

Grounded in research and designed for equity, our performance standard provides a credible, data-driven framework for improving access to care and advancing equitable health outcomes across the workforce.

What the Performance Standard Covers

The RMH Compass Performance Standard examines employer practices across interconnected areas of impact:


Reproductive Health
Covers the full lifecycle of reproductive health needs — from contraception, menstrual care, and pregnancy to perimenopause and menopause.


Parental Health
Evaluates policies and benefits that support family formation, paid leave, and the transition back to work, with a focus on the first 12 months of parenthood.

Quality of Life at Work
Assesses the workplace conditions that allow employees to work with dignity — including living wage, shiftwork best practices, manager support.

Access, Transparency and Privacy
Evaluates how clearly benefits are communicated, how accessible they are to all workers, and whether policies are transparent and equitable


We believe that when employees are valued and supported in caring for themselves and their families, workers, workplaces, communities, and economies all thrive.

How Companies Are Evaluated

Each participating company is assessed across three Impact Pillars, which together capture the breadth of reproductive and maternal health leadership.

    • Affordable and Accessible Care

    • Contraceptive Benefits

    • Menopause Benefits*

    • Mental Health Benefits

    • Family Formation Benefits*

    • PreNatal Care*

    • Pregnancy Loss and Termination*

    • Post-Natal Support

    • Menstrual Benefits*

    • Menopause Benefits*

    • Family Formation Benefits*

    • PreNatal Care*

    • Return to Work Benefits*

    • Shift-work best-practices

    • Supportive Managers

    • Affordable and Accessible Care (health insurance)

    • Menstrual Benefits*

    • Menopause Benefits*

    • Family Formation Benefits*

    • PreNatal Care*

    • Pregnancy Loss and Termination*

    • Paid Parental Leave

    • Return to Work Benefits*

    • Benefits Communication and Satisfaction

    • Living Wage Commitment

    • Data Privacy

    • Alternative cost reimbursement mechanisms

Principles Behind the RMH Compass Performance Standard

As an independent nonprofit organization, RMH Compass uses rigorous, evidence-based methods to ensure our standard is unbiased, transparent, and credible.

We operate with five guiding principles:

    • Our standard draws from independent, credible data sources that measure the provision and quality of workplace health benefits. This ensures our methodology is objective, data-driven, and informed by the latest research across sectors.

    • Our standard includes both widely available practices and emerging approaches offered by leading-edge employers.  For many companies, our framework identifies near-term opportunities for improvement as well as a longer-term roadmap toward best-in-class performance — and that’s intentional. Our goal is to celebrate existing strengths while helping every employer identify meaningful opportunities for improvement and leadership.

    • Our framework is designed not only to measure performance, but to guide improvement. The RMH Compass Resource Hub offers supplemental tools — including sample policies, real-world case studies, and business-case data — to help employers strengthen their approach and communicate value internally.

  • All data submitted by participating companies are strictly confidential. For benchmarking and research purposes, data are aggregated and anonymized (no fewer than four companies per data point). More details are available in our Privacy Policy →.

  • The RMH Compass Performance Standard is reviewed and updated on a two-year cycle to reflect shifting norms, new research, and evolving workplace practices. Each revision is informed by input from corporate users, subject-matter experts, and the Standards Advisory Working Group (SAWG).

Performance Standard Governance

Oversight of the RMH Compass Performance Standard rests with the Standards Advisory Working Group (SAWG) — an independent committee of experts in reproductive and maternal health, workplace policy, and employee benefits. 

The SAWG provides ongoing guidance on framework design, research validation, and methodology to ensure our standard reflects the most current best practices.

Meet Our SAWG →