By Kathleen (Katie) Hammond

Now we have seen a rising pattern lately of firms masking some, or all, of the price of elective (i.e., non-medical) egg freezing as an worker profit. For example, Meta, Google, Netflix, Uber, and Apple are among the many checklist of firms that provide some protection for elective egg freezing.

On this piece, I discover 4 issues with employer-funded elective egg freezing. Whereas there are numerous upsides, employers needs to be conscious of how funding egg freezing could affect office tradition. They need to watch out about how details about the process is disseminated, and so they must be cautious to not discriminate with reference to who can entry it. Moreover, employer-funded elective egg freezing will not be a alternative for different institutional advantages that foster office equality and parenthood-work stability corresponding to paid parental depart, versatile work schedules, and funding for childcare.

Protection of elective egg freezing — a fertility preservation technique — by employers is usually a profit for workers. Since fertility for folks with ovaries, largely girls, declines as eggs age, egg freezing permits folks to freeze their eggs when they’re younger in order that they will use them at a later age to extend their possibilities of being pregnant. It’s marketed to girls as a approach to “have all of it,” providing them some management over when they are going to have youngsters and offering choices for individuals who wish to delay childbearing for numerous causes, corresponding to desirous to concentrate on their profession or discover a associate.

Employer-funded egg freezing probably makes the expertise extra accessible to those that may not in any other case be capable of afford it. It permits individuals who would in any other case search out the expertise however first have to save lots of the cash to pay for it the chance to freeze their eggs at a youthful age. Since it’s paid for by the employer (and never the individual freezing their eggs) it additionally probably assuages issues in regards to the fertility trade exploiting folks into paying massive sums of cash.

Additionally it is unlikely that firms would provide this profit until it was helpful to them. Amongst different potential advantages for an employer, it could enhance worker retention, encourage staff to work, slightly than have youngsters throughout their most efficient years, assist an organization keep away from the rapid prices of parental depart, enhance gender variety, and may profit an organization’s public picture.

There are, nevertheless, important issues arising from elective egg freezing. There are bodily dangers related to the stimulation and retrieval of eggs, and, additional, individuals who freeze their eggs should subsequently bear in vitro fertilization (IVF) to make use of them later, which can carry elevated dangers of medical issues in being pregnant if people are of superior maternal age. There are additionally no ensures that egg freezing will work and there’s inadequate information to precisely estimate particular person success charges. Along with these normal issues in regards to the course of, there are additionally issues particularly associated to the expertise being funded by employers.

First, as famous above, employer-funded elective egg freezing could present choices for people who find themselves not able to have youngsters for a wide range of causes. Nonetheless, significantly if different advantages that allow parenthood-work stability aren’t in place, it could create a story that parenthood and work early in a single’s profession are incompatible. This would possibly create a stigma for workers who select to have youngsters earlier and create stress for workers to freeze their eggs to show their dedication to their job. An worker who freezes their eggs may also really feel indebted to the corporate and/or as if they need to not get pregnant for a sure period of time afterwards.

Second, when an worker takes benefit of funded elective egg freezing however their employer doesn’t provide different advantages that allow parenthood-work stability, this merely postpones however doesn’t clear up the eventual challenges of balancing parenthood and work. Moreover, by providing funded elective egg freezing, an employer could really feel as if they’ve already put in place an answer to help with parenthood-work stability and equality within the office. As such, they could be de-incentivized from providing long-term options to those issues.

Lastly, there are a number of potential issues related to how funded elective egg freezing could also be provided by employers. Along with the priority outlined above, about emotions of indebtedness, an worker may very well change into indebted to an organization that funds egg freezing if an settlement stipulates that an worker has to reimburse their employer in the event that they depart too quickly after freezing their eggs. Furthermore, if data or counselling in regards to the course of is obtainable by an employer-sponsored supplier this might create a battle of curiosity. There could also be points with the kind of data that’s offered to an worker, corresponding to egg freezing being described as “insurance coverage” with out extra data being offered about success charges. Prices which are related to egg freezing and utilizing one’s frozen eggs, corresponding to storage charges, insurance coverage, and IVF, might not be lined by an employer and an worker could also be unaware of the truth that these prices aren’t lined earlier than freezing their eggs. Lastly, employers could draw problematic delineations almost about who can/can not have protection. For example, it could solely be offered to cisgender girls, individuals who haven’t but frozen their eggs, individuals who haven’t already had youngsters, and many others.

There are numerous positives related to firms funding elective egg freezing — certainly one of them being that dialogue about funding this expertise hopefully is drawing consideration to gender inequality within the office and issues with worker work-life stability. Nonetheless, it is very important acknowledge the potential detrimental impacts of this expertise being funded by employers in order that they are often addressed. It’s essential to keep in mind that funding elective egg freezing will not be a long-term resolution to office inequality and work-life stability issues. Funding for this expertise needs to be provided along with different initiatives directed in the direction of these points.

Katie Hammond is an Assistant Professor on the Lincoln Alexander College of Regulation at Toronto Metropolitan College and a former visiting scholar of the Petrie-Flom Heart.

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