Services

We support organisations in becoming Fertility Friendly – whatever the size.

Becoming Fertility Friendly isn’t just a tick-box exercise that starts and ends with a policy. It’s an organisational culture change involving education, awareness building, communication and support. Using our E.A.S.E™ methodology we aim to improve workplace experiences for individuals needing fertility treatment, whilst ensuring organisations are inclusive, ultimately improving employee engagement, retention, attraction and productivity. Our core membership is designed for organisations with over 500 + employees. If you are a SME of less than 500, our Fertility Friendly Essentials package is for you.

FMAW Accredition Yellow

Through research findings and our own insights from our social media community we know that:

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Without policies in place managers aren’t confident on how to practically manage someone needing fertility treatment*.

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Managers often worry about saying the wrong thing and don’t know how to offer support*.

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Employees are fearful of disclosing about treatment as they don’t see it recognised and don’t feel they will be supported.

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It can be difficult to navigate and support longer, more complex fertility journeys*.

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Only 1.7% have a fertility policy that met their needs.

* Insights from Manchester Metropolitan University qualitative research findings (2022) and FMAW quantitative survey (2020).

“Line Managers are crucial to the provision of appropriate support, but managers often lack training, guidance (from policy or HR) or autonomy. The managers who seemed most competent and confident were those with significant management experience and who viewed the issue as an extension/ element of manage staff health and wellbeing more generally.”

– Manchester Metropolitan University Report

Membership Package

Our Training

Panel Discussions

Your Fertility Friendly

Membership Package

You will benefit from our membership package which includes awareness raising activities and a wide range educational tools to support you as you become fertility friendly accredited.

This includes:

Fertility Friendly Membership Resources & Support

Access to our membership resource library, workshops, adaptable comms pack and community

Use of the “Committed to being Fertility Friendly” badge, you’ll be introduced to our PR agency to coordinate comms as we love to shout about the trailblazing companies working with us!

An hour-long, virtual or in person internal panel discussion hosted by FMAW bring this conversation to life and supporting the launch of your commitment, policies and training. This can be recorded and shared internally

eLearning modules for all employees and managers, with a UK specific and global version available

Quarterly reviews to support you through the process of becoming fertility friendly accredited

Membership is on a rolling 12 month basis, providing you with our resources, guidance, support and training to help make that cultural shift

Committed to becoming a Fertility Friendly Employer
FMAW Accredition Yellow

Membership Resource Library

Our membership resource library is designed to offer your internal HR, Wellbeing and Fertility Leads everything they need to implement fertility friendly policies, internal communications and external signposting. It contains a growing bank of resources that can be repurposed for your internal use as well as a community of other member organisations for you to share best practice with.

The Professional Development Consortium Fertility Matters at Work 2022 04 05 1

Join our other forward-thinking members:

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RHP
Sidley
Diageo
EssenceMediacom
FMAW Members Logos
News UK
Addleshaw Goddard
Cadent Gas
Fishawack
Iris
CIT
Clarion
Deutsche Bank
Central Coop
Heineken

Ready to become Fertility Friendly?

Our Training

Our eLearning has been designed to engage your learners through a mix of interactive features and videos to bring to life the wide range of real-life experiences. This allows organisations to educate widely and forms the core of our education package, with additional training options to complement this.

What fertility treatment is

How common it is

The patient journey and how this can vary

The impact from a physical, emotional, and financial perspective

Why it is important to recognise fertility treatment as part of the workplace

How employers can encourage disclosure

How to hold constructive conversations about this topic

How workplaces can become more Fertility Friendly

The Professional Development Consortium Fertility Matters at Work 2022 04 05 1

This isn’t just a typical e-learning package, it’s been designed to engage learners through a mix of interactive features and videos to bring to life the wide range of real-life experiences. This allows organisations to educate widely and forms the base of our education package, with additional training options to complement this.

Fertility Awareness and Support Training Workshop

Our CPD accredited Training Workshop can be held face to face or virtually, offering a more in-depth conversation around the topic of fertility in the context of the workplace, sensitively led by professional trainers with lived experiences of fertility treatment. It creates a safe space in which to consolidate learning and ask questions to gain more understanding of the challenges faced.

Suitable for HR teams, People Managers, Mental Health First-Aiders and internal Fertility Advocates.

Contact us today to find out how you can invest in educating your workforce

Panel Discussions & Events

How our panel discussions can help…

Fertility struggles and pregnancy loss are sensitive and often taboo subjects within the workplace. Our research and experience at FMAW has shown the power that can be harnessed in opening up these conversations in a safe, authentic and professional way. That’s why through our extensive and diverse network we’ve created a programme of panel based discussions, designed to educate and raise awareness about the challenges faced when people are thinking about or trying to have a child. These are delivered through sensitively sharing research, professional insights and, most importantly, lived experiences.

Presenting such discussions internally signals to your employees that you take this topic seriously, recognise it as a life-event that many will go through and you are willing to support those facing these struggles. It’s also a great opportunity to demonstrate your commitment, to launch your policy or simply to raise awareness.

All of our panels can be recorded and repurposed for internal use. We often find the outcome of these discussions is a domino-effect, with internal employees feeling more comfortable and ‘safe’ to come forward and share their own experiences, whether current or in the past. This is turn can form the beginnings of internal employee-led, peer-to-peer support.

Find out more about the panel discussions we have on offer and our diverse community of speakers in our panel brochure.

Modern Family Show
Noni Martins
Claire speaking
Shaun Greenaway 1
Becky speaking at Nuveen
Laura Rose

Our Approach

Educate, Audit, Support & Empower!

We know that in a busy organisation it can be hard to have the time, headspace, specific knowledge or access to support networks to make this change happen. Let us guide you through the process of becoming Fertility Friendly with our E.A.S.E™ methodology.

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Educate

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Audit

Support

Support

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Empower

“Our first panel event on IWD, hosted by Fertility Matters at Work alongside our People Director, was a fantastic event where all of the panel shared their different fertility journeys and for some their lived experience of loss. Since the event we have received many messages from people across the organisation who have said for the first time they feel able to share what their journey has been or what they are about to embark on. So many people grateful to know there is a policy to guide their line manager and support available to them when they need it. This is another important step towards achieving our aim to cultivate a diverse community where everyone can be their authentic self and achieve balance through wellbeing.”

– Jo Riddell
Head of Employee Relations, Policy and Wellbeing, Selfridges

“A quick note to thank you for the excellent workshop on Tuesday!  It was the best workshop we have had by a long way; it found a great balance between information/facts and personal anecdote.  The hosts were outstanding – professional and great communicators – and the panel with Shaun was high impact.  I took a lot from the session and feel well equipped as a leader on this topic.”

JAMES
DIRECTOR, ALDI

“The webinar today was absolutely fantastic. As a Store Manager it’s important to me that we create a space for colleagues where we open up the conversation around fertility treatment and pregnancy loss. By sharing their personal stories, Natalie and Becky together with our colleagues have really helped me to understand the challenging journey to parenthood and how we can all be more supportive.”

SAM THOMPSON
STORE MANAGER, CENTRAL CO-OP

From our own personal experiences of fertility treatment whilst in the workplace, the great work that Becky, Claire and Natalie do at Fertility Matters at Work resonated so much that we were delighted to have them support our events for National Fertility Awareness Week 2021.  From sharing their own personal experiences and the research they’ve conducted, they really helped bring to life the work we’re already doing across Virgin Media O2 about infertility and fertility treatment, to raise awareness, understanding and support for people going through fertility challenges whilst in the workplace.”

Jo Howard
Nokia UDB Programme Manager – Core & IT Programmes

“We believe that everyone has the right to start a family and we know the stress, hurt and financial impact that fertility issues can bring. When one of our employees told us about Fertility Matters at work, I signed up to one of their webinars and was blown away by the passion, care and energy the team were putting into raising awareness of supporting employees with fertility matters. We knew that Fertility Matters at Work would be an ideal organisation to help guide us on our journey. Since then we’re proud to be one of the first organisations in the UK to be working with the team to become ‘Fertility Friendly’. Whatever their path to starting a family, we want to know we have done all we can to support our employees and I know that working with Fertility Matters at Work will give us the reassurance that we are doing that.”

– Rebecca upton
Head of HR, RHP

“Thank you to Natalie and Becky at Fertility Matters at Work. During the webinar today, you covered a difficult topic sensitively and professionally. You created a safe space for colleagues to share their powerful and inspiring stories and we’ve learnt how we can be more understanding and supporting of our colleagues who are experiencing infertility and pregnancy loss.”

LEE BEVAN
HEAD OF FUNERAL, CENTRAL CO-OP

“Family planning is such a significant life experience and it can be a very exciting time. At the same time, infertility and pregnancy loss is a reality that many people are continuing to face, alongside legal and parental eligibility challenges, that can make the journey to parenthood a heart-breaking process. At Criteo we recognise that this is an important life experience and we aim to create a work environment of support and understanding, demonstrating our commitment to our employees’ well-being, and giving them the best opportunities to pursue their dreams of starting or expanding their families. Fertility Matters at Work’s mission was in total adequation with our commitments. They bring passion to raise awareness and educate on how fertility issues can have a direct impact on both organizations and their employees and offer great support resources available for all Criteos (e-learning, training, panel discussions etc.).”

– Nancy Siba
Global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Specialist at Criteo

“It is vital that the physical and mental strain fertility puts on individuals is recognised in the workplace because that strain doesn’t stop the moment someone opens up their laptop or walks through the office door. Our DE&I strategy looks to support our people, whoever they are, whatever they are going through and wherever they are in their journey through life. As part of that we need to ensure that people don’t feel that their only option is to step out of the workplace when it comes to starting a family. Parenthood is not easy on anyone, it’s even more difficult when challenges arise on the path to get there. We are so pleased to be partnering with Fertility Matters at Work on our journey and it’s important to us that we really show Iris as fertility friendly when we educate, raise awareness and offer more support for those on a more difficult path to parenthood.”

– Harriet Shurville
Global Chief People Officer, Iris

“I highly recommend the team at Fertility at Work for all their fertility education and awareness sessions. The team of experts delivered informative and engaging sessions that greatly improved the knowledge of all things fertility to our whole organisation. The materials are well-organized and easy to understand. The co-founders were highly experienced, provided valuable insights and truly opened up the conversation within the workplace. I truly feel that the Fertility at work team have transformed the landscape at work and we are so grateful for the opportunity to learn from such a great team.”

– Sheena Amin-Liebman
Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Fishawack Health

“Partnering with Fertility Matters at Work has given us confidence to take the steps towards becoming an inclusive employer for those dealing with infertility. It is a sensitive topic, and not something widely talked about at work, and we have benefitted from guidance around the actions we should take and how to position them. Our new policy and launch event, both of which IMAW supported with, have both landed really well in the business and we are looking forward to further collaboration.”

– Mary Peterson
Head of Responsible Business, Addleshaw Goddard