Life happens: why we’re giving paid time off for fertility treatment and early pregnancy loss

Like thousands of other people, I always wanted to have children. But, as for so many others, the path for me to do so was not easy.

Eventually, the only potential solution for me was to turn to fertility treatment. Telling my boss – when I hadn’t been in my job even a year – that I was about to undergo IVF was an absolutely nerve-wracking experience. It meant time out of the office for numerous appointments and procedures, and an emotional and mental rollercoaster that inevitably comes with multiple daily injections of a cocktail of hormones.

Luckily, my boss was completely understanding and supported me positively through the whole process. He also supported me through my subsequent, high-risk pregnancy, and enabled me to work part-time on my return to work.

This all means I am now the mother to incredible two-year-old twin girls, while I still get to have a great career.

But not everyone is so lucky. For many people, their employers don’t offer any support for fertility treatment, or early pregnancy loss, or any other caring responsibilities; and they have to wait to be able to make a flexible work request.

That’s why in Capita we worked with our Family and Gender Employee Network Groups to design our new ‘life leave’ policy. Because we all have lives alongside our work, and we don’t want life to be a barrier to a great career.

Examples of our recent changes include:

• Extension of parental bereavement leave rights – so now employees can receive up to two weeks paid leave for any pregnancy loss, not just after 24 weeks.
• Introduction of new provisions for fertility treatment – reasonable paid time off for attending fertility appointments.
• Removal of the qualifying period for parental leave – up to four weeks annual unpaid leave for each child up to 18 years old from day one of employment.
• ?Removal of the qualifying period for flexible working requests – right to request to work flexibly from day one of employment.
• Introduction of new provisions for carers – up to one week of unpaid annual leave if they have caring responsibilities.

We can’t plan for everything that life will throw at us, or those we work with, but we hope the extra support we offer will help Capita people manage the ups and downs of their life, while continuing to have a great career with us.

Note - the specific changes above are for our UK and Isle of Man employees, we’re currently working through how we can apply these provisions globally.