How Employers Can Support National Fertility Awareness Week
Most of your team going through fertility treatment won’t tell you. They’ll book annual leave, call in sick, or quietly cut their hours, and 54% of people have considered leaving their roles during a fertility journey. National Fertility Awareness Week, from Monday 2 to Friday 6 November 2026, is the moment to change that.
What is National Fertility Awareness Week and when does it take place?
National Fertility Awareness Week 2026 runs from Monday 2 to Friday 6 November. Around 1 in 6 people face a fertility challenge, and the week exists to challenge the stigma and point people towards help. It’s a moment for the whole fertility community to raise awareness, with a strong focus on diverse voices and fair access to care, which matters for every kind of family and every route to parenthood. For employers, it’s a natural prompt to review the support you offer and whether staff know it’s there.
Why fertility in the workplace matters more than most employers realise
Treatment doesn’t pause for work. People attend scans, take calls from clinics and carry the emotional weight of it while holding a full workload, usually in silence. That silence has a cost, as the cost of ignoring fertility in the workplace shows.
Research by Fertility Network UK found that 63% of people going through treatment reported reduced engagement at work, and more than a third took increased sickness absence. When people don’t feel safe to speak, you lose them quietly, to absence, to disengagement, or to a competitor who asks the right questions.
How can employers mark National Fertility Awareness Week meaningfully?
One social post won’t do it. The employers who use the week well do something people can feel:
- Run an internal talk or lunch and learn and invite a specialist to answer questions openly.
- Brief line managers on how to respond when someone discloses treatment, and what not to say.
- Audit your current policy or write one if you don’t have it.
- Signpost existing support clearly, so people can find it without having to ask.
- Point staff towards expert-led sessions. During the week, we run Reproductive health 101 for employees on 3 November, covering everything from periods and hormones to fertility and menopause, so there’s something for the whole team.
The aim is simple. Make it normal to talk about fertility at work, this week and every week after it.
What should a fertility policy at work include?
A good policy removes guesswork. Cover paid time off for appointments, confidentiality, and clear guidance for line managers. Make the scope inclusive across IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy and donor conception, and extend it to partners and non-birthing employees so same-sex couples and solo parents are covered too. Building that in is also the foundation of an inclusive workplace with family benefits.
How to support employees through fertility treatment beyond NFAW
A week of awareness means little without a year-round structure. That’s EAP access, flexible working when treatment ramps up, peer support, and a route to clinical expertise when people need answers fast. Fertility in the Workplace, now delivered by The IVFN, has helped employers shape fertility policies since 2004, and gives employees ongoing access to our specialists, expert-led sessions and resources, alongside policy guidance and manager training.
Employers who commit through the programme can also earn the Fertility Fair Workplace Award, given to organisations that meet the required criteria. There’s practical detail in our guidance on supporting employees undergoing fertility treatment, and you can keep the conversation going through the Workplace Benefits Unwrapped podcast.
Making fertility support a year-round commitment
National Fertility Awareness Week is a prompt, not a programme. The employers who get this right treat the week as a starting point and build from there. The quickest way to show staff you mean it is access.
IVFN membership includes a free specialist consultation, so your people can speak to a clinician within days rather than waiting months. See how it works for your team through fertility benefits for employees.
