Working for Apple takes an insane level of dedication, so to help keep its top female talent around long, Apple is joining Facebook to provide free egg freezing for non-medical reasons.
Successful egg freezing allows women extend their fertility by storing eggs at a younger age for use when they’re older. The new process has become a viable family planning option for women who don’t want to put their career on hold, but procedures usually come at a steep price.
Facebook recently began offering free oocyte (egg) freezing, reports NBC News, and says Apple plans to start offering the perk to employees at the beginning of January.
The new benefits come just weeks after Apple announced new benefits for its 98,000 employees that include extended maternity leave and a student loan refinancing program. The addition of covering egg freezing under Apple’s fertility benefits covers up to $20,000 of treatment and could be a benefit to lure in new female talent in the male-dominated Silicon Valley.
The process of freezing eggs involves stimulating eggs in the woman’s ovaries while in their reproductive prime, and then harvesting and storing them for use later. A typical procedure for one round of egg collection can cost about $10,000, plus an extra $500 annually to store the eggs. Most doctors recommend collecting 20 eggs, which requires two collection procedures.
Source: NBC News
