Infertility.
In the United Kingdom, it affects approximately 1 in 8 women and 1 in 10 men who are of reproductive age.
However, the cost of fertility treatments can be expensive, leaving couples with mounting debts as more than one cycle is often required to achieve their dream of having a child.
Yet, times are changing.
Employers are able to include fertility treatments within their employee benefits, and a growing number of organisations are choosing to do so.
So, what businesses offer these perks? Where can you find more information on these benefits and other fertility options, like how to freeze or donate your eggs?
Continue reading to find out below.
Why Are Companies Providing These Fertility Benefits?
Cast your mind back to a few years ago – it was almost unheard of to receive fertility treatment coverage through your employee benefits. You may even be surprised to hear this news today. However, several trends have pushed employer-covered fertility treatment to the forefront.
First, employers now face growing competition when recruiting the hottest talent. They need benefits that stand out from the crowd – covering a variety of fertility treatments is one way to ensure this.
In turn, this also helps foster employee loyalty. An employer offering benefits that allow their employees to pursue their professional and personal goals is far more likely to see a higher level of worker dedication to their company than companies who don’t offer these benefits. Employees will remain steadfast within the company as they use fertility benefits to their advantage.
In addition, there’s more of an emphasis on employee well-being. Infertility can have an immeasurable impact on a person’s mental and physical health, which may ultimately affect their work performance levels. Making sure staff are happy and healthy is another key goal for many of these organizations.
What benefits do these employers offer?
Many include coverage for procedures like IVF and fertility diagnostic tests. The amount covered depends on the individual company, but many are increasing these amounts – as we’ll cover next.
Which Companies Are Making Headlines for Offering Fertility Benefits?
It’s clear a number of industry-leading companies have set the precedent when it comes to employee fertility benefits. For example, Facebook and Instagram offer $100,000 (£77,815) each to cover preimplantation genetic screening and four IVF cycles, while Spotify offers unlimited coverage for fertility treatments.
The Gates Foundation also offers $100,000 (£77,815) coverage but goes one step further by providing 52 weeks of paid leave for adoptive parents and birth parents.
Also, Starbucks has received a lot of publicity for its fertility benefits – and not because of the amount offered to employees. Rather, Starbucks provides the majority of its employees – including part-time baristas – with a $20,000 (£15,563) IVF benefit. Six weeks of paid leave is offered to new parents and $10,000 (£7,781) is available to those looking to adopt. These benefits offer incredible family-building opportunities to lower-income employees.
What Can You Do If Your Employer Isn’t Offering Fertility Benefits?
As previously mentioned, fostering loyalty is crucial within the workplace. Thus, employers are keen to support their staff and listen to their concerns – both inside and outside of the office. It is no longer considered “taboo” to have conversations about infertility with one’s boss or HR, either.
This means a growing number of HR departments are being asked questions about fertility benefits for employees. If you’re thinking about discussing fertility benefits with your employer, there’s help available to guide you through the process.
Resolve, the National Infertility Association, is making it easier for employees to approach their employers about potential fertility benefits. As well as offering help and advice, it also provides a template letter you can use to address your HR department.
Within the letter are several studies that highlight how costs associated with adding fertility coverage are usually overblown and how comprehensive fertility coverage can provide better healthcare for employees while lowering an employer’s expenses.
This letter can give you a powerful case that you can bring forward to your company’s appropriate department.
An Employee’s Right
In today’s world, it’s within an employee’s right to expect that employers should and are able to offer fertility treatments as part of their benefits.
Numerous studies and surveys demonstrate how these benefits not only help employees achieve their ultimate goal, giving birth to a healthy baby, but also provide a wealth of benefits to employers. These include improving employee productivity and morale, attracting and retaining the industry’s hottest talent, and boosting employee health.
It’s crystal clear offering fertility benefits is the way forward for many organisations.
After all, is there anything quite as heart-warming as looking at your colleagues’ baby pictures?
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Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post.