The birthrate in the United Kingdom is currently one of the lowest in the entire globe. It is general knowledge that people in the United Kingdom and other Western countries are delaying the beginning of their families. This trend can also be seen elsewhere in the West.
In the past, legal firms had a naive and unsophisticated perspective of fertility. As a result, they offered many of their female employees egg freezing and fertility “MOTs,” a dreadful phrase that is reviled equally by women and men.
Employers have started giving perks, policies, and practises that help men and women manage their reproductive journeys while they are working because the dialogue around infertility and infertility treatment has been more open in recent years, in no little part as a result of podcasts like ours.
Time off from work
Two examples of the rising trend of fertility benefits include paid time off from work to undergo fertility therapy and insurance against the financial impact of pregnancy loss for both men and women who have gone through a miscarriage.
Women working in the legal field have felt, for many decades, that in order to develop their careers, they needed to postpone the beginning of their kids. It is a widely held belief in the field of law that a person’s prime reproductive years, which are considered to be between the ages of 20 and 30, also correspond with the time when that person might reasonably predict that his or her career will begin to take off.
As more people come forward about their struggles with infertility, more solicitors are beginning to take preemptive measures to ensure that their ambitions of starting a family won’t be forced to take a back seat to their professional responsibilities. As a result of the need to accommodate reproductive procedures, many women have postponed advancement in their careers and instead pursued activities with lesser stakes and a greater emphasis on leisure.
Deaths of women
There have been far too many high-profile deaths of women in the sector in recent years. It has been challenging for legal firms to enhance gender equality in leadership roles, minimise the compensation gap between men and women, and assure that all employees have equal access to opportunities for professional progress.
These problems are even more widespread among members of the Bar, since very few men and women have access to fertility resources within their chambers. As a result, members of the Bar are either obliged to leave the profession altogether or go for work in law firms.
We have all worked with a lot of successful female lawyers, and many of them have shared with us that delaying the beginning of their families was one of the most difficult decisions they have ever been forced to make. It is a commonly held belief that a younger woman has a greater likelihood of conceiving a child and carrying that child to full term with less complications and stresses than an older woman does.
Fertility health impacted
In addition, a person’s fertility health may be significantly impacted by a variety of circumstances, including but not limited to stress, adrenal depletion, poor wellness, self-neglect, and an unhealthy diet. It may be good for legal firms to incorporate into their employee incentives and everyday cultures a larger emphasis on health and self-care. When we set out to produce this piece, one of our primary objectives was to catalyse a significant culture transformation throughout the organisation, and we feel that bringing up the “F” word can assist us in reaching that goal.
The path to fertility is fraught with possible challenges at every turn, and we need to be ready to meet any and all of them.
It should be possible for men and women to utilise fertility drugs in private and tranquil settings that are apart from one another. Ample time and discretion should be afforded to individuals of both sexes so that they may attend any fertility-related appointment that they feel is necessary.
In-house fertility officers
Family solicitors have the opportunity to freely and securely share their fertility experiences within the confines of a secure environment provided by an in-house fertility officer. The education and experience of the fertility officer should cover a wide variety of subjects, including, but not limited to, work allocation (in the event that a lighter, less demanding workload is needed at a given time), absence, counselling, and the acquisition of fertility benefits.
It is important for law firms to make it feasible for their customers to obtain loans without interest so that they may afford comprehensive fertility care and research. However, legitimate businesses have a responsibility to keep a close eye on their employees to prevent them from developing a faulty sense of security and postponing the process of addressing infertility until it is too late.
In addition, legal practises should consider the possibility of engaging fertility coaches to assist their personnel in becoming more comfortable discussing the “F” word.
Now is the time for legal service providers to develop policies that encourage both men and women to address their reproductive journeys with the same level of seriousness and seriousness with which they are expected to approach their work. The first thing you need to do is get over the fact that the “F” word makes you so uneasy.