launched fertility benefits programs to the tune of £45,000 per employee. Employers are scrambling to help out—or lose out, with staff liable to move somewhere that does offer it. But despite being able to cash in on the perk themselves, some employees have mixed feelings.
This quid pro quo approach led Heather to explore sponsored egg freezing. She asked not to use her real name to maintain privacy with her employer, a multinational tech firm in London. “I see it as another benefit and try to take advantage of all of what’s offered to me,” she says. Due to her polycystic ovary syndrome —which can cause infertility—she can get three rounds and three years of storage, totaling over £30,000, covered through her company’s benefits provider.
Heather, who is 33, went through with the surgery and didn’t find it so bad. “I’ll plan to do another two more rounds,” she says. “Although I’ll need to cover any other costs if I want to use my eggs, I don’t think it will matter at that point.”will cost her upward of £5,000 per cycle. As for her company’s parental provision, Heather is rather more dubious. “I’ll feel supported at a macro level—we have good maternity cover and job assurance,” she explains.
Silicon Valley firms are known for higher-than-average parental leave. Reddit, for example, gives birth and non-birth parents at least 16 weeks of fully paid time off, which is
In the old days, when the world made sense, people started their careers earlier, got married earlier, and started their families earlier. Roughly in that order. All that reduces the need for “reproductive treatments.” Jus’ sayin’ 😊🇺🇸