By G. David Adamson, M.D., Founder and CEO, ARC Fertility
Everyone wants to “have it all.” For U.S. residents it’s also called the “American Dream”: the idea that a person who works hard can have a successful career, fulfilling family life, and emotional contentment. This pressure is especially strong for young professionals who are at their most dynamic and energetic, even as economic realities seem to push this dream further out of reach. A prosperous career and healthy family are both attainable goals, but goals that must be balanced and carefully tended. Focusing too much on one will almost always damage the other, so young professionals must approach both with intention and strategy.
Thankfully, modern medicine offers family planning options not available to past generations of aspiring parents and business leaders. Fertility treatments today allow people to make precise and flexible plans for growing their families in a way that minimally or barely disrupts a promising career.
By working with fertility specialists and taking advantage of a number of both tried-and-true and cutting-edge options, the latest generations of workers can grow their families as they like and not give up precious opportunities to make strides at the workplace. With a comprehensive and forward-thinking family plan, professionals can be sure their career and family grow in tandem, and not in opposition.
The main conflict between career and family is always time. While some countries are better than others about parental leaves, the truth is that business does not stop just because a key employee goes off to have or raise a child. Choosing the wrong time to take a break can take precious momentum away from a thriving career, regardless of the employer or employee’s best intentions.
For employees of all gender identities and domestic situations, fertility treatments offer unparalleled choice and control. Egg- and embryo-freezing can help gestating parents preserve viable reproductive cells until a later time, waiting until their career is stable and established before committing the time and energy to parenting.
The same is true for freezing sperm, ensuring that the healthiest genetic material is available to parents who have to wait for the right point in their professional journey.
In some cases, it may not be possible or even desirable to personally conceive and gestate a baby to full term. Adoption is always an option, while gestational surrogates enable intended parents to pass on their genes without the attendant risks of pregnancy and childbirth.
All these options are incredibly useful to young professionals plotting their family and work journeys. But it’s up to employers to ensure that these options are available in the first place. Especially early on, when an employee is in their most fertile years but also their lowest earning period, assistance with fertility care is an absolute must.
Even for the most highly paid employees, companies that offer comprehensive family-building benefits to workers from all walks of life prove themselves more progressive and welcoming. These companies are the most likely to both attract and retain the most talented and versatile workforce available in a competitive market.
Dr. G. David Adamson MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACS, is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of ARC Fertility. He is a globally recognized reproductive endocrinologist and surgeon, and is a Clinical Professor, ACF at Stanford University, and Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF. Dr. Adamson also serves as the current Chair of the International Committee Monitoring ART (ICMART), a WHO NSA/NGO.
