Starting a family is one of the most exciting phases in many people’s lives. But the reality is it’s not easy for everyone and trying for a baby can bring stress and heartache.

Today, we’re seeing a growing number of multinationals recognise this reality by investing in benefits that support their people through distressing and costly challenges, such as fertility issues.

But understanding how to sensitively communicate these benefits is one of the key challenges when offering fertility support.

The egg-freezing benefits trend, for example, has attracted controversy in recent years. The criticism has generally centred on two points: that it risks giving women the impression they should postpone pregnancy to get ahead at work or gives employers room to neglect other workplace conditions that support mothers in their careers.

One expert suggests employers be mindful of how they communicate about egg freezing benefits, by making it clear it’s not being offered as a replacement for other initiatives that promote equality and work-family life balance.⁷

Focusing fertility and family-building benefits messaging only on women also risks employees perceiving their company’s offering as outdated.

However, by offering parental leave and flexible working arrangements for fathers as well as mothers, and by ensuring their EB programmes are inclusive of solo and LGBTQ+ parents’ needs, multinationals can show their people that they are committed to supporting them to parent equitably.

It’s also important to consider how your people are supported through times that might be emotionally and physically draining.

Plenty of companies are taking the same approach and actively promoting their ‘family-friendly’ initiatives to the market to attract talent. In recent years, job sites have recorded a surge in posts advertising shared parental leave policies.¹⁰ Expert analysis suggests employers can play a role in narrowing the ‘motherhood penalty’ gap – the impact of starting a family on women’s careers and earning potential – by supporting all parents through their family-building years.¹¹ 

And it’s a mutually beneficial concept. Employers offering gender equitable policies that help women stay in work benefit from reputational gains, helping them to attract top talent.¹¹

Despite paternity leave being more widely offered today, statistics suggest many men still feel taking time off to care for their children is damaging to their career.¹² Childcare is a shared responsibility, and multinationals have an opportunity to play a leadership role in helping male employees understand that there is no stigma attached to taking the leave that is on offer.

Of course, offering family-building benefits is a challenging field for multinationals to navigate when they operate in multiple countries, each with its own regulations.

Maven highlighted how multinationals can face difficulty in standardising their offerings globally when access to services such as IVF or post-partum mental health support, for example, differ between markets. Employees in some countries will be able to have their needs met through public health systems, while others won’t. And in Germany, for example, IVF access is provided via the public health system, yet surrogacy is illegal.¹³

Sanjeev says: “Employers have a very difficult job in asking: ‘how do we grow a benefits structure that provides an equitable global offering?’ For example, if you just offer IVF support, what are you doing for those people who need surrogacy support, what are you doing for those people who need adoption?”

Once again, employers looking to go down this road will need to tailor their approach market-by-market and avoid a ‘one-size-fits-all’ setup.

Another crucial life stage that makes up part of this hugely important topic is menopause.

Many companies today publicly commit to promote more women into senior leadership positions. But to show real commitment to this, strong health and wellbeing support should be focused on all women, no matter what level of an organisation they work at.

A lack of support for women going through menopause at every level of the workplace can have effects that ripple throughout an organisation and wider society. Employers must recognise that major life changes, such as menopause, not only impact women’s quality of life, but their careers too, potentially forcing them to leave their careers or halt their progression, Sanjeev says.

“Over a million women left the workforce in the UK alone due to not feeling supported as they navigate the menopause.¹⁷ And these are women who are very often at the peak of their careers.

“That’s a big loss for an individual to lose their career because of a lack of support, and from their employer's perspective, that’s a big loss as well."

We’re seeing a common thread emerge in employee wellbeing, across all demographics, as workers look to their employer for benefits that support them through every stage of life.

There are likely to be cultural forces at play in this trend. Many major companies today take public stances on social issues that affect their employees both at home and at work – whether it be the gender pay gap or championing women in senior leadership roles on International Women’s Day. Employees today can – and will – directly compare their company’s public values to how they are treated personally.

Investing in comprehensive EB packages that include fertility, family-building and menopause support is just one positive step toward showing your people, and the talent you want to attract, that your company doesn’t just talk about issues but actually takes action.

And it’s important to recognise not everyone plans to have children or gets to have children as they may have wanted. Offering a broad range of wellness initiative options, such as nutrition, fitness, mental health and financial wellbeing support, ensures everyone is included.

^{[1] Cohen, C. (November 3, 2023) A £45,000 fund for IVF and £16,000 for IVF and egg freezing: How fertility became the ultimate workplace perk. The Evening Standard  https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/wellness/ivf-fertility-egg-freezing-work-benefits-best-companies-b1117699.html (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[2] Anon. Mercer. (2023) Rethinking What We Need From Work: Inside Employees’ Minds 2022-2023 https://www.mercer.com/en-us/insights/talent-and-transformation/attracting-and-retaining-talent/rethinking-what-we-need-from-work-inside-employees-minds-2022/ (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[3] Anders, G. (May 4, 2022) Taboo or timely? Younger women press hardest on mental health issues. LinkedIn Confidence Survey. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/taboo-timely-younger-women-press-hardest-mental-health-george-anders/ (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[4] Anon. Maven Clinic. (2024) Maven’s State of Women’s and Family Health Benefits 2024 https://www.mavenclinic.com/reports/annual-maven-fertility-report (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[5] Fite, E. (August 4, 2019) New moms returning to work face nursing challenges. Washington Times. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/aug/4/new-moms-returning-to-work-face-nursing-challenges/ (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[6] Anon. Maternal mental health. World Health Organization https://www.who.int/teams/mental-health-and-substance-use/promotion-prevention/maternal-mental-health (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[7] Hammond, K. Harvard Law: Bill of Health (September 6, 2023) The Problems with Employer-Funded Elective Egg Freezing https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2023/09/06/the-problems-with-employer-funded-elective-egg-freezing/}

^{[8] Anon. (April 4, 2023) 1 in 6 people globally affected by infertility: WHO. World Health Organization https://www.who.int/news/item/04-04-2023-1-in-6-people-globally-affected-by-infertility (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[9] Mayne, M. (October 31, 2022) More than half of employees with fertility problems not getting support at work, survey finds. People Management https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1803709/half-employees-fertility-problems-not-getting-support-work-survey-finds (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[10] Urquhart, J. People Management. (12 August, 2022) Employers twice as likely to offer enhanced parental leave compared to last year, study finds https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/article/1795671/employers-twice-likely-offer-enhanced-parental-leave-compared-last-year-study-finds (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[11] Anon. PWC. (2023) Women in Work Index 2023 https://www.pwc.co.uk/economic-services/WIWI/pwc-women-in-work-index-2023.pdf (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[12] Cox, J. BBC Worklife. (13 July, 2021) Paternity leave: The hidden barriers keeping men at work https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210712-paternity-leave-the-hidden-barriers-keeping-men-at-work (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[13] Whittle, G. DW. (February 10, 2024) Women in Germany demand better access to fertility treatment https://www.dw.com/en/women-in-germany-demand-better-access-to-fertility-treatment/a-68199876 (Sourced: February 2024)}

^{[14] Anon. Menopause Factfile. Local Government Association https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/wellbeing/menopause/menopause-factfile (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[15] Anon (2023) Menopause and the workplace. Fawcett Society https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/menopauseandtheworkplace (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[16] Taylor, L. Independent. (14 October, 2021) Women are leaving their jobs because of the menopause – it’s time to start talking https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/davina-mccall-symptoms-nhs-cipd-b1938361.html (Sourced: March 2024)}

^{[17] Duffy, M. Maven Clinic (September 19, 2023) Menopause benefits at work: An overlooked need for your employees https://www.mavenclinic.com/post/menopause-in-the-workplace-an-overlooked-need-for-your-employees (Sourced: February 2024)}

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