Women undergoing fertility treatment feel discriminated against at work

Women fear they may lose their jobs if their employers learned of their IVF treatment.

New research, conducted by Zurich Insurance, has revealed out of 250 UK women surveyed this year, 58 percent did not feel able to tell their employer of their IVF treatment, with the biggest reason fear of losing their job. Other than job security and career progression, 26 percent worried that IVF treatment would make them seem less committed to the role while 32 percent were concerned that their job would be put at risk.

Chief HR officer at Zurich UK, Steve Collinson, said: 'The journey to starting a family is unique to everyone, but regardless of how a person chooses to become a parent they should never fear losing their job or being left to feel unsupported in the workplace… IVF treatment can be emotionally and physically stressful, and the length of the process can mean that women open themselves up to difficult conversations or even discrimination much earlier than those who are able to conceive naturally'.

IVF treatment is on the rise and becoming a growing occurrence that employers must face. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has outlined that more couples are choosing to have children later in life, with 50,000 women in the UK undergoing fertility treatment annually compared to 27,000 in the year 2000.

Despite this, following the survey, Zurich warned that inadequate policies for IVF treatment in the workplace could be damaging to women's career progression.

The survey showed that, for women undergoing IVF, more than one in ten women (12 percent) leave their jobs due to limited support from their employer, while nearly one in seven (14 percent) ultimately restrict their working hours. Moreover, 13 percent of women are taking on roles with reduced pay to compensate for these pressures. However, it was determined that same-sex couples were twice as likely to be demoted compared to women from heterosexual couples (27 percent vs 13 percent).

Cofounder of Fertility Matters at Work, Natalie Silverman, detailed that, 'This is why we are doing the work we do, aiming to guide organisations into a culture shift to really understand the impact of infertility and the struggles people have in bringing home a baby... We work with organisations to ensure there is a more consistent approach from line managers as they have been trained to understand what a person needs and feel confident in how best to support them'.

Of the women surveyed who didn't reveal their IVF treatment to their employer, 52 percent said they would have been willing to disclose this information if reasonable policies were put in place.

In addition, a Fertility Network UK survey of 1279 fertility patients highlighted a lack of policy and support from the workplace, as well as restricted access to mental health services and NHS-funded fertility treatment (see BioNews 1065).