Google has announced a range of enhanced family-friendly and fertility benefits for its UK workforce.
The tech giant is expanding the benefits it offers to UK-based employees, including paying for four rounds of IVF, an option for employees to undertake elective egg freezing, alongside support for adoption, surrogacy and other fertility help.
The company said that supporting employees to build families was “core to our employee-centric culture”.
Its existing benefits include a global minimum of 18 weeks’ paid leave for all new parents, a minimum of 24 weeks for birthing parents, flexible working arrangements, onsite lactation rooms and back-up childcare.
Google said expanded fertility benefits would include elective fertility preservation (egg freezing) and IVF, but that because “there are many ways to have a family”, its benefits options would also include help with adoption and surrogacy, as well as education and personalised support.
Fertility benefits
Adoption leave will be enhanced above the statutory minimum, offering up to 26 weeks of paid leave for one parent, and 18 weeks’ baby bonding for the other parent.
Its medical insurance plan will soon offer employees and their partners approximately four rounds of IVF, it added. Medical insurance will also cover pregnancy related conditions such as ectopic pregnancy, retained placenta, postpartum haemorrhage and miscarriage requiring immediate surgical treatment.
For LGBTQ+ employees, the plan will offer cryopreservation and egg storage for colleagues in the process of transitioning from one gender to another, as well as the funding for gender reassignment surgery.
Google also offers to cover GP referrals to menopause specialists and access to eligible treatments.
These benefits will be available to UK ‘Googlers’ from April 2024.
Debbie Weinstein, VP and managing director for Google UK and Ireland, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to announce the expansion of our family building benefits for UK Googlers.
“These benefits will enable us to offer invaluable support to our employees during each stage of growing their families – from preconception through to returning to work.
“As both a mother and a business leader, I understand both how challenging and rewarding parenthood can be and I’m proud that we’ll soon be able to offer all of our UK-based employees this industry leading support during these moments that matter.”
Recent research shows that a stigma around fertility treatment can be bad for employee retention.
A survey by the Fawcett Society and Totaljobs found that one in five workers who have undergone fertility treatment have quit their jobs because of the way their employer handled it.
The Fertility Treatment (Employment Rights) Bill, was recently retabled by Conservative MP Nickie Aiken, alongside a voluntary workplace fertility pledge employers can join if they wish to help staff with treatment or paid leave.
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