Apple will soon offer its female employees a fertility benefit of up to $20,000 to put toward the costs of freezing their eggs. Advocates say Apple’s program, which will start in January, gives female employees the freedom to seek career advancement without worrying about their future plans for a family. Apple joins Facebook as one of the first major corporations to offer such benefits for non-medical reasons.
Both perks offer up to $20,000 for egg-freezing procedures, but Apple will mark the cost as a fertility benefit, while Facebook classifies the money as a surrogacy benefit. In either case, advocates say egg freezing allows women to “level the playing field” with men by relieving pressure put on by a constantly ticking biological clock.
San Francisco-based fertility specialist Philip Chenette of the Pacific Fertility Center said both companies new coverage can be thought of as “payback” for the female workers commitment in the workplace.
While Silicon Valley companies have been criticized for their lack of diversity, especially when it comes to women executives, Apple has been taking steps to rectify the imbalance. Apple recently joined a number of other tech firms at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference with hopes of recruiting female students into the industry.
Benefits such as the new fertility benefit are likely to give Apple and Facebook an edge when it comes to recruiting female prospects.
