Freezing employees' eggs becomes new benefit to attract/keep talent
Employers have used all different types of perks to attract and retain top talent. A new benefit currently offered by Facebook and soon to be offered by Apple, however, is attracting a lot of attention. The companies are offering to cover the cost for female employees to freeze their eggs for non-medical reasons.
The rationale for the program is pretty straightforward: freezing eggs enables younger women to focus on their careers and put off becoming pregnant. In the past, coverage for egg freezing has only been approved in cases where a woman has a medical reason, such as a cancer diagnosis.
Costs for the procedure, according to reports, is quite steep at $10,000 for every round that eggs are frozen and $500 or more a year to store them. Facebook covers treatments up to a maximum of $20,000.
While women may welcome the benefit offered, there is some concern it could be used as subtle pressure to influence female workers to delay starting families.
Kellye Sheehan, president of the Women in Technology industry group, called the benefit "a nice perk," but told USA Today, "Is the employer trying to tell us something? Agreed, working mothers have a lot to juggle. But you can't let your employer force you into something that doesn't fit your values or personal choices."
According to NBC News, there has been a marked increase in demand by women seeking to freeze their eggs ever since the procedure was no longer deemed experimental in 2012.
Tech companies have taken heat in recent years for the small percentage of women that make up the ranks of the industry's workforce. Seventy percent of Facebook and Apple's worldwide workforces are male.