Apple and Facebook are likely changing the game of work perks by offering pay to freeze women’s eggs. According to CNN Money on Oct. 14, the female employees at Facebook are already able to take advantage of this perk through insurance benefits.
Apple will soon join Facebook in offering this very expensive, elective service to women, with coverage to begin in January of 2015. Though each company has slightly different terms of coverage and plans, the basics are the same. The companies will pay up to $20,000 if a woman chooses to have her eggs frozen. Now, this amounts to the recommended amount of eggs to be harvested. According to NBC News, doctors suggest women freeze 20 of their eggs, which will take two harvesting rounds. With a $10,000 price tag attached to each round, Facebook and Apple are giving women exactly what they’d need to take care of this procedure. What doesn’t appear to be covered is the $500 yearly fee to store the eggs until they are ready for use.
What’s the motive behind these big tech companies offering this to their female employees? They’re trying to stay competitive and snag the top women in a male-dominated industry. By focusing on family, these companies give women the option to have it all: A career and a family, on their own time. The Atlantic notes that Facebook has always been on the forefront of offering benefits that differ from the norm. They note that the company even offers new parents $4,000 to use on whatever their brand-new baby bundle may need, including clothes and diapers.
In the long run, the companies can also save money by offering these services. If a woman is able to freeze her eggs while she’s young and works for a company that will make having a family easy, she’s less likely to look for a job that would, which translates to a higher retention of employees and lower costs for recruiting. Also, a woman may have an easier time freezing her eggs and then choosing to use them later in life, than trying to adopt or go through fertility treatments.
Do you think this will be a practice that will be adopted throughout the United States? Would you want to see your company offering to pay for women to freeze their eggs?
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