More UK employers must put infertility policies in place or risk losing talented people, warns report
Share:
Policies could include flexible working, paid time off to attend appointments or compassionate leave. Workplaces should have formal policies to help staff undergoing fertility treatments, experts have warned. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has said employers risk losing valued staff without adopting measures to support those having difficulty conceiving.
These could include flexible working, paid time off to attend appointments or compassionate leave. Currently, only 19 per cent of 1,000 managers surveyed by the CMI said their organisations had a formal policy concerning fertility treatment for employees, according to reports.
A further 35 per cent of those polled revealed there were no plans to introduce one, despite six in ten considering these policies to be important. “Without skilled management support, the significant stresses of fertility treatment can lead to increased sick leave and retention issues if staff feel they have no other choice but to quit or decrease their responsibilities in order to cope with the impact of treatment.
“Employers risk losing good people because they are not addressing what is a growing issue affecting more and more of our workforce every year.”. The poll comes after a separate report, published last year, found one in five employees quit their job due to their treatment by employers while undergoing fertility treatment such as IVF.
The study by Totaljobs and the Fawcett Society found a further third considered leaving. Around one in seven couples have difficulty conceiving, according to NHS data. However almost six in ten people undergoing fertility treatment have kept it a secret from senior colleagues, the 2023 study found.
