It came as a welcomed, yet unexpected surprise, that our appointment of a fertility officer would get a much needed conversation started.

‍Natalie Sutherland, who has been the driving force behind this initiative, has been contacted by various publications for comment. Whilst the last couple of weeks have shone a light on this important topic, it is a subject that Natalie has been deeply passionate about for years.

As a firm, we understand that our employees may wish to start or expand their families. With 1 in 8 couples facing infertility issues, we wanted to convey to our team that we support them in their family building aspirations as well as their careers and do not want them to feel that they have to compromise one for the other.  

We hope that our initiative will inspire other workplaces to consider appointing their own fertility officers so that collectively we can create a more open workplace culture which is supportive of family building.

Why not have a read of some of the articles written by various publications highlighting the importance of this topic:

• The Times, Babies are on the agenda at law firm with fertility officer, James Beal, Social Affairs Editor, 14 February 2022, Britain’s baby shortage is everyone’s problem, James Kirkup, 15 February 2022 and Britain's birthrate is plummeting. Some companies think they can fix that, Martha Gill, 22 February 2022
• Mail Online, Career or babies? Now you can ask a ‘fertility officer’: UK law firm creates new post in bid to quash the notion that motherhood is job suicide, Stephen Adams for The Mail on Sunday, 12 February 2022
• Elle, UK Law Firm Appoints ‘Fertility Officer’ To Stop Lawyers Keeping Pregnancy Plans Secret, Sakaynah Hunter, 15 February 2022
• City AM, Small London law firm seeks to compete with Magic Circle by appointing its own ‘fertility officer’, Louis Goss, 14 February 2022

For those that enjoy audio and visual posts, you can listen and watch here:

• BBC, Woman’s Hour, Mina Smallman, 15 February 2022
• ITV, Loose Women, 15 February 2022
• News Talk, Calls for fertility to be taken seriously in the workplace!, Ciara Kelly, 15 February 2022