Australian companies in discussions about paying for egg freezing for employees
AUSTRALIAN companies may soon be paying for female workers to have their eggs frozen — so they can delay parenthood — in the battle to retain staff members.
Health
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EXCLUSIVE
SEVERAL prominent Australian companies are in discussions with a top fertility clinic about paying for their employees to freeze their eggs to have children later in life and dedicate their younger years to a career.
Following the lead from US tech giants such as Facebook, Apple and Google, News Corp Australia has learned negotiations are occurring with Australia’s first dedicated egg-freezing clinic that will open its doors on Thursday.
Apple, who pay up to $20,000 and Facebook among other tech companies, offer to freeze eggs for female employees in the United States an effort to attract and retain more women on their staff.
The clinic — Genea Horizon — in discussions with Australian companies is designed to deal with clients who are just wanting to freeze their eggs to give them the option of having children in the future, while they focus on their careers.
“I can confirm, we have had some companies approach us off the back of requests from their staff for the business to consider supporting them with fertility options as part of their health and well being programs,” a company spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman would not say which companies have approached the fertility giant only that they were “prominent businesses” considering subsidising or paying for their employees egg freezing services.
It is understood one of the businesses could include a large bank.
The new Sydney-based egg freezing clinic has already received interest from women across the nation, and from as far as Singapore, Hong Kong and China — where single women are not permitted to freeze their eggs.
Egg freezing is on the rise in Australia with many women choosing to wait to have children until they have achieved career success.
Genea fertility specialist Devora Lieberman said the company’s egg freezing-specific clinic could lead to a type of “reproductive tourism” for Australia.
Dr Lieberman said she was seeing “four or five times” the number of patients about egg freezing services than she was two years ago.
She said Genea’s purpose built egg-freezing clinic could store “millions” of women’s eggs and would create a more comfortable environment for women choosing to freeze their eggs for future use rather than being around women who were dealing with the emotional turmoil of wanting a baby immediately.
“We’re hoping we can help around 300-400 women a year,” she said.
Services will also be around $1500 cheaper than standard procedures due to the lower costs of not having to provide full counselling and support services for women experiencing infertility.
Fertility Society of Australia president Michael Chapman and clinician with rival clinic IVF Australia said the inquiries he was getting about egg freezing had trebled in the past year.
“It’s because we now want everything. We want to have career but we also want to have a family,” Dr Chapman said.
One in six couples in Australia and New Zealand suffer infertility and around 1 in every 25 Australian births are a result of IVF.
In 2014 a total of 12,875 Australian babies were born as a result of Assisted Reproductive Technologies, up 21 per cent from 2010.
Jodi Geddes and Kate Pollard of women’s employment support network Circle In applauded the businesses who were considering subsidising their employees egg freezing.
“I think it’s showing incredible support for women by creating the right benefits and right environment for women to thrive,” Ms Pollard said.
But Ms Geddes warned companies would need to maintain confidentiality in any benefits scheme.
“That’s really key that the right processes are put in place so women felt supported but in confidence.”
Health Minister Greg Hunt declined to weigh into the potential subsidising of egg freezing by employers.
“This is entirely a matter between a woman and her employer,” a spokesman for Mr Hunt said.
RACE AGAINST TIME
KAREN Hopkins, 32, isn’t sure if she wants children.
But the newly single creative professional doesn’t want the ticking of her biological clock to overshadow the decisions she makes in relationships or career in the short term.
Ms Hopkins will be one of the first patients to use the nation’s first dedicated egg freezing clinic — Genea Horizon — that will open from tomorrow.
She told News Corp Australia knowing that she no longer has the stress of having to find a partner within a certain time frame is a weight off her mind.
She has had to dig into her savings for a home deposit to pay for her egg freezing and her parents are also loaning her some cash.
“But for me it’s worth it. It is an investment in my future and it just gives me so many more options,” Ms Hopkins said.
“I don’t want to settle for any guy who comes along and feel I have no other options than to sacrifice my career and the things I want achieve now if I want to have a family.”
Ms Hopkins said having a place she could go which was just for egg freezing meant she could approach the whole process with positivity.
“My journey is a positive one and I am excited about the prospect and opportunities it gives me. I’m conscious of the fact that if I was in an environment with other women who are trying to get pregnant and may be going through the emotion of that not happening it might not be great for me to waltz in with a big smile on my face every morning.”
Ms Hopkins said she would absolutely get behind any Australian company that wanted to subsidise egg freezing services and would consider a job with any company who offered such benefits.
“I would definitely consider taking a role with a business if that was a benefit they offered,” she said.
“I would think of that as a wonderful gift from a company to its employees and an opportunity to allow women to focus on their career.”