Futures Housing Group has introduced paid leave for fertility treatments for its workforce as part of its aim to be a flexible and family-friendly employer of choice.
All of its more than 450 employees are now entitled to paid time off for any medical appointments related to fertility treatments, and during any treatment cycle, as well as up to five days of compassionate leave for those who suffer an embryo transplant loss or miscarriage. It also covers staff whose partners are receiving treatment.
The organisation introduced the support because there is no government legislation in place for employers to give paid leave. It wanted to go beyond the legal parental bereavement leave that only covers pregnancies over 24 weeks.
Laura Watkinson, lead HR adviser at Futures, said: “Futures is always looking to improve the offer we make to our biggest assets, our people. We recognised a gap in our offering to those who were going through fertility treatment and felt we could try to make a difficult and potentially stressful period slightly less intense. We also went one step further in extending compassionate leave for those who suffer loss at any stage of their pregnancy, whether conceived naturally or not.
“Our offering is market leading, and the support given to get this guidance into place has been fantastic. It’s made me very proud of the place we work in, and it truly epitomises the fact that we always aim to do the right thing for our colleagues. I know that team members are already utilising this benefit and I hope that it will continue to support others in the future, if this becomes a relevant part of their personal journey.”
Futures also offers its employees private healthcare, mileage payments, agile working, a pension scheme, discount schemes, and health and wellbeing support.