Drugmaker Merck announced last month that it has launched a comprehensive fertility benefits program that will offer employees financial support for fertility treatments.
Under the program, employees can communicate confidentially with the human resources department without having to notify a supervisor first.
The program, as announced, concerns eight markets: Germany, United Kingdom, Switzerland, China, India, Taiwan, Brazil and Mexico. To date, Merck has offered similar benefits to employees in the United States, Canada and Japan. Starting next year, benefits are expected to be extended to Merck employees in other countries.
The offer is open to everyone, married or unmarried, and also applies to employees’ partners.
In the US, where Merck has implemented a similar policy since 2010, about one in 100 workers has taken advantage of the offer.
The company employs approximately 13,000 workers in Germany and 60,000 in the rest of the world, is a leading international market leader in infertility treatment and recorded a turnover of approximately 1.4 billion euros in the specific sector in 2022.
Costs covered by Merck include fertility tests, hormone therapies, artificial insemination procedures and egg cryopreservation.
“One in six couples in Germany is facing involuntary infertility and the trend is increasing. We have to help,” Merck head Matias Wernicke told BILD.
“We understand the enormous financial and emotional toll that infertility can take on people and their families. And this is just one example of how Merck prioritizes its potential,” noted CEO Belen Garrio, also to BILD.
With information from APE-MPE
