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Centrica's benefits helped reduce the mounting costs of IVF, Hortense says, and being open with her manager about what she was going through made juggling work and the unpredictable schedule of the treatment much smoother. But with one in seven couples struggling to conceive according to the NHS, some bosses say that providing workers with financial and workplace support to become parents makes good business sense.
"We want to attract the best talent, and to have the best talent you have to be really thinking about the whole person," she adds.Campaigners say that IVF funding is a welcome move, and better than egg freezing, which critics think could encourage workers to delay their attempts to start a family.