Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR december 1, 2014 10 News REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! The 2015 HRIA Conference is breaking barriers and changing the way we interact. Through active discussion and a focus on building intellectual capital, this year's conference will provide Alberta's leading HR professionals the platform to realize the collective power of their networks. REGISTER BY JANUARY 15 & SAVE $100! Birth of a new benefit? Apple, Facebook helping pay for female employees to freeze eggs By SaRaH doBSon the numBers paint a clear picture: Just 31 per cent of em- ployees at Facebook are female and at the senior level, 23 per cent are women. At Apple, the num- bers are similar — 30 per cent of its global workforce is female, and 28 per cent of its leadership. ose weak diversity numbers may explain why the two tech gi- ants have decided to help female employees freeze their eggs. Since January 2014, Facebook has been offering egg freezing for medical and non-medical reasons to all employees in the United States covered by its in- surance plan. "This benefit is covered 100 per cent up to $20,000," said Gen- evieve Grdina of corporate com- munications in San Francisco. And from January 2015, Apple will pay both full- and part-time employees up to US$20,000 for the procedure and storage costs for female employees to freeze their eggs, according to Reuters. "We continue to expand our benefits for women, with a new extended maternity leave policy, along with cryopreservation and egg storage as part of our exten- sive support for infertility treat- ments," Apple said in a statement. "We want to empower women at Apple to do the best work of their lives as they care for loved ones and raise their families." e news has been met with mixed reactions, with some de- claring the benefits a welcome change that supports women and provides greater equality, while others claim the perk encourages women to "act like men" and put their careers before motherhood. "The message such a policy sends is this: If you get pregnant when young, then you can't be serious about your career. If you truly want to make partner, then have your eggs preserved and keep up your pace like one of the guys," said Lea Singh in a blog at Real Women of Canada. Further complicating the mat- ter are legal concerns, especially if such a practice became common in Canada. So, is this a benefit Canadian employers should be considering? Improved procedures It's questionable whether this is the best use of money, said Mi- chael Cheung, founder and medi- cal director at the Grace Fertility Centre in Vancouver. "The concept is marvellous and I would take it, of course, if I worked at Apple or (Facebook), I would take the benefit. However, I would rather someone to say, 'We have this better idea of plan- ning to genuinely help women to continue on with their career and so forth without necessarily go- ing through this step, which gives you some security but not neces- sarily guarantees the pregnancy you want.'" More employers may be con- sidering this move now because the procedures have advanced and the success rate is much bet- ter, he said — with the proviso that the age of the women involved is younger, in their 20s. But it's not a light decision to be made. e procedure involves hormone injections, can be pain- ful and requires expensive medi- cation along with ultrasounds and egg retrieval, said Cheung. ere's also no guarantee one cycle will be enough to ensure a pregnancy, and each cycle adds to the cost. "Is that one single cycle enough to give you that confidence to de- lay childbearing until you're 39?" he said. "It may still give people the wrong message if they don't understand this in the right con- text… it's a good benefit to have but it may not necessarily 100 per cent solve the problem." As women age, the ability to conceive and carry a child to term decreases — so there are no guar- antees, according to Lindy Forte, a health economics analyst and principal consultant at Patient Access Solutions in Toronto. "It's not like you can just freeze the eggs at age 30 and then wait until you're 45 because (then) your body is lower in hormones needed to sustain that pregnancy," she said. "ere's a real miscon- ception that infertility is a lifestyle choice, you know: 'It's the people's fault because they waited too long, these women were career- minded, they put off childbearing and now it's their own fault that they can't get pregnant.' And that's absolutely not true." But it's "wonderful" if employ- ers are providing this new benefit and it's a good way to attract and retain talent, said Forte. "People who have been able to conceive a child in part funded by an employer are more likely to be loyal to that employer, I think, and the employers can attract valuable workers as well, they can become competitive in the marketplace." However, that same benefit should also be extended to indi- viduals faced with infertility, said Forte. Treatments can range from $10,000 to $15,000 per cycle and a person may undergo up to three treatments in one year. "It makes good financial sense for private insurers to cover this infertility benefit for their employ- ees so that they're not implanting more than one embryo at a time and then risking their own health and the health of the infant." Infertility is also associated with male causes, so men should receive benefits too, said Forte. "If you truly want to benefit so- ciety and benefit male and female workers and families, whatever the makeup of the family, there should be an all-encompassing benefit to make it easier for wom- en to stay in the workforce." There are other alternatives well-funded companies such discrimiNAtioN > pg. 17 "is that one single cycle enough to give you that confidence to delay childbearing until you're 39?"

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