Fertility Support SG (FSS), a social advocacy group, released on Friday (Jul 25) the country’s first set of workplace guidelines, the Workplace Fertility Support Guide, aimed at supporting employees undergoing fertility treatments such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in-vitro fertilisation (IVF).
The release of the 39-page guidebook coincides with World IVF Day, which celebrates advancements in fertility medicine and the significance of IVF for couples who hope to start a family. It is one of several initiatives by FSS aimed at raising understanding about infertility in Singapore.
The guidebook was developed as FSS recognised a significant lack of awareness around how fertility treatments can affect both employees and the workplace environment.
It cited issues such as the fear of stigma and judgment, unintended career consequences, and a lack of workplace recognition of fertility as a well-being issue. All these contribute to why many women choose to keep their fertility journeys a secret from their colleagues.
Christine Ong, vice president of FSS, who went through seven embryo transfers and three miscarriages, described the experience as “leading a double life”.
“[It’s] one where I was a competent, reliable professional going about my job, and another where I was quietly grieving, hoping, and sometimes falling apart,” the mother of three said.
FSS came about in 2020, started by a small group of women who wanted to offer emotional and social support to other women struggling with infertility.
Rafidah Jalil, one of the advocacy group’s early members, and now a mum of three, said: “When I was trying to conceive, the odds felt stacked against me.
“I was managing so many things at work, but I was also trying not to let my body and mind fall apart. The physical struggle was so tough, and the emotional weight was even heavier,” added the 39-year-old, who was a senior manager at a global bank when she went through IVF twice, at ages 31 and 34.
“Fertility challenges don’t pause for office hours,” Ong said. “They require time, flexibility, and emotional bandwidth that can be hard to reconcile with workplace expectations, and that’s where the guidelines come in.”
A PUSH FOR MORE AWARENESS AND EMPATHY
The guidebook includes detailed information on what trying to conceive (TTC) entails, sample conversation starters for employees who want to raise their infertility struggles with their managers, as well as tips for supervisors who want to support staff but don’t know where to begin.
