When Priya and her husband discovered they were infertile, it cost them $20,000 and years of intrusive treatment to conceive their daughter.

A few years later, when they had their son, it was free and relatively painless – in large part thanks to his employer who footed the bill and helped organize the procedure.

“The whole experience, between what we went through before … and after, was night and day,” said Priya, a Seattle-based program manager whose company introduced a fertility treatment program after the birth of her first child.

“Being sterile is something you can never plan for,” she continued. “Having power over your own decision, when most of the time being sterile means you don’t have it, is a game-changer.”

It may seem like it’s beyond the realm of employer responsibility, but Priya’s experience isn’t unique. She is one of a growing number of employees receiving the latest category of workplace benefits: fertility benefits.

From egg freezing to in vitro fertilization (IVF) and surrogacy, employees are increasingly enjoying a full range of fertility benefits as companies look for new ways to attract top talent and build their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) credentials in increasingly competitive jobs. countryside.

From 2020, more than two-fifths (42%) of large US employers – those with more than 20,000 employees – offered coverage for IVF treatment, while almost a fifth (19%) offered egg freezing. For small businesses with more than 500 employees, these figures were 27% and 11%, respectively.

This marks a rapid increase from the mid-2010s, when these new benefits were almost exclusively limited to Silicon Valley pioneers like Facebook and Apple. In 2015, just over a third (36%) of large companies offered IVF and only 6% covered egg freezing.

And with the coronavirus pandemic having changed individual priorities and increased employee leverage, more companies are introducing the advantage to stay competitive. Today, employers from JPMorgan and Microsoft to Unilever and Boston Consulting Group offer variations of the benefit.

“When organizations started funding egg freezing, it was pretty radical and extraordinary, and it’s becoming much more common now,” said Beth Hale, partner at employment law specialist CM Murray.

Over the past year, Progyny and WINFertility – two leading fertility benefit service providers – have each doubled their customer base, now offering packages to large and small employers in a range of industries including finance, medical products pharmaceuticals and fast-moving consumer goods.

“The Great Resignation and resulting historically tight job market has simply accelerated prevailing trends and pushed employers to implement family-building programs more quickly to attract and retain talent,” the CEO said. by WINFertility, Roger Shedlin.

The trend comes at a time when more and more people are seeking fertility treatments, both for medical and non-medical reasons.

one in eight American couples struggle to conceive. For UK couples, this figure is closer to one in seven.

Meanwhile, the number of women choosing to freeze their eggs is on the rise – up 1,000% in the US between 2009 and 2016, according to some estimates — and the number of individuals, heterosexual and homosexual couples seeking non-traditional paths to parenthood continues to grow.

However, the cost of these treatments remains incredibly high for many. The typical price for a the US egg freezing cycle is $11,000, with additional costs, including hormone medication ($5,000) and storage ($2,000). IVF treatment can cost closer to $24,000.

For Aja Harbert, 34, a single California-based human resources manager, the price of these procedures made freezing her eggs “financially unobtainable”.

That was until 2020, when her employer introduced a $25,000 lifetime benefit for gestation and surrogacy services, which she says gave her the freedom to pursue her career without sacrificing her prospects. parental.

“I could sense the impending crossroads that many professional women face — the pressured decision to want to advance in their careers while starting a family,” said Harbert of investment firm B Capital.

“The concept of being able to delay this decision by freezing my eggs was something that suited my personal plan well,” she added.

Financial costs aside, the often grueling treatment processes can have professional — as well as emotional and physical — consequences that require additional support from employers.

For Herbert, his experience was “a three-month journey with dozens of doctor’s appointments, daily self-injected hormones, and restricted diets, all while working full time.”

Dervilla Lannon, a 40-year-old vice president of Silicon Valley-based security startup Verkada, said she was apprehensive about starting her first cycle of egg freezing this month, after seeing her friend undergo the same process. However, having a supportive boss made the decision much easier, she said.

“It’s hugely encouraging for a startup under six years old to offer this benefit,” said Lannon, who advocated for a one-time $10,000 fertility treatment stipend for all staff.

Studies suggest that these benefits also benefit employers, with staff who take advantage of them being more likely to return to work after parental leave and stay on the job long term.

According to FertilityIQ’s 2019-2020 Family-Building Workplace Index, nearly two-thirds (61%) of employees who received fertility coverage from an employer said they felt more loyal and committed to the company.

The same study found that 88% of women who had IVF treatment fully paid for by their employer chose to return to that employer after maternity leave, compared to about 50% of the regular population without fertility benefits.

This could be a win for employers as they look to improve their female and LGBTQ+ representation, especially in their senior ranks.

“These benefits are increasingly seen as essential to DEI’s goals,” said Progyny CEO Pete Anevski. “Fertility allowances can help companies improve gender diversity while showing they value their female workforce.”

The increase in fertility allowances is not without controversy, however.

Critics argue that programs such as IVF and surrogacy can blur employer-employee lines, leaving recipients feeling beholden as their companies take on more physical and financial stakes in their personal lives.

Meanwhile, pregnancy-delaying treatments like egg freezing arguably perpetuate the so-called restlessness culture of some fast-paced industries, encouraging expectant parents to postpone their dreams of raising children in the name of career success – neither of which is guaranteed.

“The problem is whether you nudge people one way or another,” CM Murray’s Hale said, noting that much of the criticism has historically been about perception. After all, benefits should be empowering, allowing for a better work-life balance, rather than locking in, encouraging more work.

With the majority of benefits targeted at expectant parents – and women in particular – some also argue that current schemes could constitute a new form of discrimination, leaving little room for those who choose to remain childless or see their care responsibilities directed elsewhere, such as in the care of the elderly.

In this regard, Hale said employers should ensure that their benefits are not gender-specific and instead facilitate everyone who manages their family and “how and if they choose to have one”.

Yet beneficiaries and advocacy groups say fertility treatments are just one facet of the full range of health and wellness benefits currently offered by modern employers, and should be considered as such.

“These benefits are no longer a ‘nice to have’ perk, but an essential part of an employer’s benefits package,” Progyny’s Anevski said.

Meanwhile, for Priya, reflecting on her two pregnancies, she said having an employer that offers fertility support was – and continues to be – a deciding factor in her career development. And as employees enjoy greater influence in a tight job market, this can be the real test of the success of these programs.

“The world is a very different place than it was five years ago,” Priya said. “We live in a world where family takes all forms. Some people can’t have children biologically, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to have families of their own.”