Educating businesses and raising awareness of how fertility issues affect both their employees and their organisation, Fertility Matters at Work is on a mission to find the first 100 UK companies to commit to becoming Fertility Friendly employers.
Leeds-based Clarion Solicitors is one of the businesses leading the way in the legal sector and committing to becoming a Fertility Friendly organisation. With the wellbeing of employees being a central pillar in ensuring an engaged team at Clarion, partnering with Fertility Matters at Work (FMAW) will enable the firm to enhance the support available to employees.
By creating a dedicated policy focused on fertility, Clarion will be able to ensure its employees feel recognised, safe, and supported through what can be a challenging journey.
Clarion’s interest in working with FMAW occurred after Helen Saunders, Head of People, attended an event with the fertility training organisation and was inspired by the CIC’s trailblazing work in educating companies across the UK. This session highlighted to the Clarion team that the support currently available to its employees could be enriched, and more could be done to raise awareness of fertility and parenthood journeys within the business.
Helen Saunders comments: “Fertility Matters at Work is a credible and forward-thinking organisation to support us in achieving this aim, and together with its values aligning with ours, we wanted to forge this partnership.”
In starting to work through the accreditation process and having new fertility focussed initiatives in place for its workforce, Clarion envisions it will have a big impact on employee relationships throughout the business – where colleagues can bring their authentic selves to work, be vulnerable, and can feel confident that they will receive the required and necessary support.
Helen adds: “By going through the accreditation process, we hope to be able to help and guide and support our managers so they are in a more informed position to support the individuals in their teams. We hope this comes through greater awareness of the subject and the importance of language when talking and listening to colleagues.
“As part of our BeingOne strategy (ED&I), we encourage peer support groups to emerge from within the business so that people who have shared lived experiences can help each other, for example, the creation of a menopause group, and we envisage this happening with the sharing of fertility stories as part of this work.
“Overall, we hope we maintain our reputation as a caring and supportive employer as we do the right thing by our people. We meaningfully support our team going through fertility treatment or other parenthood journeys, and therefore we hope to retain them so they have a long and fulfilling career with us.”
Natalie Silverman, co-founder of Fertility Matters at Work, comments: “We’re really proud to be working with a range of businesses dedicated to supporting their employees through ensuring appropriate policy and guidance is in place, and that this is supported by awareness raising and education.
“It’s great to see companies like Clarion recognise that a journey to building a family can be challenging and physically and emotionally demanding for some. We’re confident that participating in our Fertility Friendly training and working toward our accreditation will support Clarion in enhancing its current fertility and family-friendly policies.”
For more information on becoming a Fertility Friendly workplace, please visit: Services – Fertility Matters at Work