Recognising the importance of reproductive health and family planning support, a clutch of companies like Accenture, Cognizant, Procter & Gamble, Salesforce and WeWork are making fertility benefits a standard part of comprehensive employee benefits packages to not just attract and retain talent, but also demonstrate their commitment to wellbeing.
By Brinda Sarkar & Sreeradha Basu, ET Bureau
Last Updated:
Infertility treatment - once a hushed-up subject - is now making its way into corporate insurance and benefits programmes, as India Inc looks to create inclusive and supportive workplaces.
Recognising the importance of reproductive health and family planning support, a clutch of companies like Accenture, Cognizant, Procter & Gamble, Salesforce and WeWork are making fertility benefits a standard part of comprehensive employee benefits packages to not just attract and retain talent, but also demonstrate their commitment to wellbeing.
According to estimates from WHO, the prevalence of primary infertility in India ranges from 3.9% to 16.8%. A report of doctors from the AIIMS estimates the number of couples diagnosed with infertility in India each year at 12-18 million. Professional services company Accenture covers fertility and surrogacy treatment as part of its medical insurance programme to support its people who are looking to form families.
"Last year, we also added egg and sperm freezing to our medical insurance benefits. All our people in India including our LGBTIQ+ people, and their partners can avail of these benefits," said Lakshmi C, lead-human resources, Accenture in India. At Cognizant, too, the medical insurance policies cover all aspects of primary infertility treatment for employees. Last month, P&G India announced it would cover the expenses borne by employees and their partners for availing of infertility treatments including intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilisation (IVF).
Earlier this year, WeWork India enhanced its medical insurance to include infertility benefits.
Employees and their families can now access up to? 1 lakh coverage for infertility treatments, including egg harvesting and egg freezing, said Priti Shetty, chief people and culture officer, WeWork India.
About 35% of organisations have taken, or are planning to take, action in 2023-24 on family planning and fertility programmes, according to a recent study on inclusive health care by WTW, an advisory, broking and solutions company.
Apart from infertility treatment coverage for assisted reproductive technologies like IVF and IUI, many companies in India are also going the extra mile.
These include rolling out flexible work policies to allow employees to manage their fertility treatment appointments and procedures without adversely affecting their work, as well as compassionate leave policies to employees undergoing treatments, consultations, or even adoption processes, said Vinod VK, head of health and benefits India, WTW.
“Employers are also recognising the emotional toll that infertility can have, and are offering employee assistance programmes that include counselling and mental health support to help employees cope with the stress and emotional challenges associated with infertility,” Vinod said.
There is still a long way to go in expanding benefits to include treatments such as egg freezing, assisted reproductive techniques, diagnostic testing, fertility treatments, surrogacy benefits, and fertility medication coverage, said Aditya Bagarka, head of strategy and innovation at insurtech startup Plum.
“Around 2% of our 3,000+ clients have already incorporated IVF coverage into their group policies. Moreover, prominent companies like Google have included IVF coverage in their corporate health policies, indicating a potential increase in companies offering such benefits in the future,” said Bagarka.
Note:- Source of the Article is Economics Time - By Brinda Sarkar & Sreeradha Basu, ET Bureau - Last Updated:
