Supporting colleagues through their fertility journeys

At E.ON, we’re committed to supporting and empowering our colleagues across all stages of their working and personal lives.

As a leading UK employer, we’re proud to lead the way through a number of initiatives which aim to not only support our own colleagues and their families, but also drive a wider positive societal impact by inspiring other organisations to join us in creating better workplaces across the country.

We take pride in our colleague-led inclusivity networks; communities which are there to offer support and guidance and encourage information sharing across a wide range of areas.

One of our newer such networks is the Fertility Forum and we spoke to Rebecca Percy, our Diversity & Inclusion Lead, about how and why this forum came about, and what it means to colleagues who are going through their fertility journey, and their peers.

Rebecca said: “Our Fertility Forum is a network which supports all prospective parents who may or may not be on a fertility journey. It is ‘owned’ and run by colleagues who are passionate and knowledgeable about the subject and I’d describe the network as supportive, empathetic and empowering.

“The network was launched in January 2024 so it is still really new at this point. The Fertility Forum started with two colleagues wanting to do more to help anyone going through a fertility journey. Our focus so far has been to hear from our colleagues with a variety of different experiences with fertility. To encourage this, we're continuing with our ‘Fertility Cafes’, which is a virtual call that provides a supportive place to share experiences, in a safe and informal way.

“We initially conducted confidential interviews with colleagues who offered to share their experiences and this helped us understand what worked well from the policies and support we already have in place, as well as where and how we could improve. It’s clear that a supportive manager and team and a flexible working environment can make a huge difference to someone's experience when they’re going through their fertility journey.

“Our Fertility Friends are colleagues with different experiences around fertility, and they’re there to listen and share their own stories with the aim of helping others. This could be support for colleagues who are going through their own journey or to line managers and team members who want to better support their colleagues.

“We listen to all feedback and review this with the working group to look at how we can make improvements. Trust is really important and we're partnering with Fertility Matters at Work to help provide expert advice and help us get it right first time.

“One example of improving our processes to support our colleagues was changing our approach to fertility leave. We knew that we wanted to give people time and space to not only deal with the physical demands of fertility treatment, but also the emotional impacts too. Plus, we wanted to recognise that both partners are affected and therefore need support.

“Ultimately, this led us to providing unlimited leave for both partners irrespective of gender. The network told us that no journey is the same - that some people may have multiple IVF cycles after each other in succession but for others it can be a journey of years. We didn't want to restrict someone's opportunity to fully commit to their best treatment option, so this felt the best solution.   

“Now that we have some great tools in place to support the community, we're looking to grow the network and deliver events to help engage the wider E.ON community. Naturally, we also have a massive focus on improving our level of understanding, awareness and empathy too. We’ll also continue to look for opportunities for best practice and how else we can support our members.

“Inclusion is a journey and the Fertility Forum is an important part of how we support all working families, whatever their stage of becoming and being parents.”

At E.ON, we’re building an inclusive organisation where colleagues know they’re valued, respected and feel a sense of belonging so they can thrive and be at their best. To find out more, visit eonenergy.com.