In the valley of large salaries and perks, Facebook and Apple are providing a more family-orientated benefit. The two Silicon Valley giants are paying for their female employees to freeze their eggs, in hopes of drawing a more diverse workforce.
Apple will join Facebook in January to pay employees up to $20,000 to freeze their eggs. The payment will allow women to focus on their careers without jeopardizing their ability to have a child later.
The cost of freezing and storing eggs can add up to at least $10,000 for each round of treatment, plus $500 or more annually for storage. Doctors often recommend women freeze at least 20 eggs, which can require two rounds of the procedure, reports NBC News.
A study focusing on women’s motives for seeking reproductive practices found that 19 percent of females said that workplace inflexibility contributed to their reproductive dilemma. Facebook launched a diversity team last year to find more females to fill top management roles. Facebook revealed that 77 percent of the senior level employees are men.
Silicon Valley firms are working to attract more females to the predominately male environment. In efforts to make a more alluring company for women, the two companies will pay for women to work during their childbearing years. “Covering egg freezing can be viewed as a type of “payback” for women’s commitment,” said Philip Chenette, a fertility specialist in San Francisco.
This is not the first time Facebook has encouraged benefits that support employee family plans. Facebook provides $4,000 to use on whatever new parents like — this perk is called “baby cash.” Egg-freezing can be seen as an extension to its preexisting package.
Women who know they want kids someday “can go on with their lives and know that they’ve done everything that they can,” said Chenette.