Apple And Facebook Are Paying USD20K To Freeze Eggs Of Their Female Employees

Facebook and Apple have both announced an uncommon program to help their women employees lean all the way in. The tech giants will now cover the cost of egg-freezing treatments for women (and their male partners) who want to delay their family plans in favor of advancing their careers.

The procedure essentially extends a woman’s years of fertility, by extracting viable eggs to be stored and reinserted into her uterus when she’s ready—even if that time comes well into her 40s.

qz.com

The procedure involves harvesting a woman’s eggs while they are still viable and storing them in freezers until a woman decides to get pregnant, should she face a harder time years later when fertility may be more of a challenge.

financialpost.com

The procedure costs around US$10,000 per round, and often two rounds are required, as well as about US$500 a year for storage. Both companies are reportedly offering to cover up to US$20,000 per employee but are offering the benefit only to their American employees.

qz.com

But while the egg-freezing service may seem both a canny solution and an alluring perk, some advocates for women in the workplace are worried about the potential message it sends. Namely: If you want to have children now, then you apparently aren’t making your Silicon Valley career a top priority.

financialpost.com

“If women want this, I think it’s great that the companies are offering it. The worry is that it could be accompanied by a message that it’s not a responsible time to get pregnant,” said Joan C. Williams, founding director of the Center for WorkLife Law at University of California’s Hastings College of the Law

financialpost.com

“And when you do [get pregnant], you obviously are making a choice that signals you’re not serious about your career.”

financialpost.com

Alison M. Konrad, the Corus Entertainment Chair In Women and management at the University of Western Ontario’s Ivey Business school, said she is in favour of companies giving their female employees health coverage for all reproductive options, including egg freezing. However, she is concerned about a perk like this becoming a replacement for more family-friendly policies to allow women to better balance their home and work lives, while still progressing in their careers.

financialpost.com

“If this is gesture is meant to be supportive of work-life balance and people to be present for their families, it’s an odd one,” said Ms. Konrad. “What’s odd to me is we’re offering this ability to postpone the event of having children, as opposed to the ability to be present for children.”

financialpost.com

By helping to give women the choice of putting their biological clocks on the back burner, these companies would seem to be on the forefront of female empowerment. But perhaps equally empowering, if not more so, would be the creation of career tracks that are more amenable to parenthood (and motherhood in particular), along with more generous policies regarding parental leave and childcare. The plans for Facebook’s $120 million, Frank Gehry-designed campus include a doggy daycare, but nothing of the sort for children.

qz.com

At present, Facebook offers four months of paid leave for new moms and dads alike, a $4,000 cash bonus for new parents to spend as they wish, and subsidies for childcare. Apple’s policies allows expectant mothers to take up to four weeks off before delivery and 14 weeks after. Expectant fathers (and other non-birth parents) get six weeks.

qz.com

These policies, quite liberal by American standards (pdf), imply that the companies want to create more hospitable professional environments for new parents. With this latest “perk,” are these employers showing themselves to be early adopters of 21st century family planning? Or are they simply telling female employees in prime childbearing years: Don’t do this now.

qz.com

And practically speaking, when women freeze their eggs early, firms may save on pregnancy costs in the long run, said [Lynn Westphal, a Stanford University Medical Center associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology]. A woman could avoid paying to use a donor egg down the road, for example, or undergoing more intensive fertility treatments when she’s ready to have a baby.

Apple released statistics last month showing that 70% of the company's 98,000 worldwide employees are male. The figure jumps to 72% for leadership roles and 80% for technical positions.

Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, is a leading voice exhorting women to take a leading role in the workforce. But the company's diversity statistics are a reflection of the rest of Silicon Valley. Nearly 70% of Facebook's global staffers are male. A full 85% of the company's tech workers, and 77% of its management team, are also men.