ONBOARD RETAIL TECHNOLOGY RETAIL PRODUCTS NEWS RiM Fertility Policy – What we’ve achieved so far One of the women I follow on Instagram has, very bravely, documented her latest IVF journey in real time. Her latest post brought me right back and, more importantly, it reminded me of my “why”, why I advocate loudly for Fertility Warriors, why I use the platforms and resources I am lucky enough to have. I have the luxury of being able to call attention to this topic and start conversations. Indulge me while I give you a short biology lesson and the related stress involved: Phase Related Stress Daily injections, medications, and regular scans for a few weeks to stimulate ovaries in the attempt to grow a lot of follicles. Stress before and after each scan if the follicles aren’t growing as hoped and if the amount is low. In each follicle should be an egg. Egg retrieval day – a procedure which requires sedation Will I get enough eggs? Will it hurt? How long will I need off work? You are powerless to influence the outcome. Fertilisation happens where you hope for plenty of embryos Will enough embryos be created? More feelings of powerlessness. Over the next 3 – 5 days, you watch and wait to see if the embryos survive. This part is torture. You guessed it – powerlessness! If there are enough good quality embryos, 1 – 2 will be implanted (depending on where you get your IVF done) and any remaining will be frozen in anticipation of future cycles. Hope is low if there is only 1 or 2 to pick from and if the quality is bad. The “Two-Week wait”. Continuing to take medication and waiting to see if you are pregnant. This is a famous period in Fertility communities. What can I do while I wait? For this person, on her 6th attempt at IVF, her 3 – 5-day watch over her embryos fertilising ended in heartbreak. None made it. Now, imagine she worked in a company who didn’t support her. How does she make peace with the outcome whilst navigating sick days, performance expectations, whispers about her mood? Fertility issues have no legislative protection in Ireland, meaning that many women must rely on the good will of their employers, hoping that it doesn’t dry up as the IVF attempts continue. Others can’t rely on any goodwill and therefore have the colossal added stress of trying to cover up everything I detailed above. This is why I was proud to announce in April that not only did Retail inMotion embrace the Fertility Policy I wrote but also generously allowed me to make it available to any company who wanted it. To date, three companies have launched it, a number of others have it in process. Over one hundred people requested it, which means hundreds and hundreds of conversations have been started. I urge you to advocate for those women and men who are too vulnerable or broken to advocate for themselves. Reach out to me and I will send you the policy. SHARE AUTHOR Stephanie Brady HR Director PUBLISHED Oct 6th 2021 TAGS Related Stories Read more stories from the cutting edge of onboard retail. GABRIELA MICU-MOTROC•NOV 1ST 2021 Start the holiday season with Eurowings Discover’s freshly made meals NEWS GABRIELA MICU-MOTROC•MAY 12TH 2021 #ADayInTheLife of a Product Design Team Lead NEWS GABRIELA MICU-MOTROC•MAY 7TH 2021 Celebrating International Mother’s Day with a virtual roundtable discussion NEWS Find out how we bring the travel retail sector to life. Contact Us News ONBOARD RETAIL Retail Management Duty Free Crew Management Design & Marketing TECHNOLOGY Digital Retail Platform Mobile Applications Pre-Order Solution Supply Chain Logistics Inflight Entertainment RETAIL PRODUCTS Food & Beverage Our Brands Product Development Product Logistics COMPANY Company Policies Our Story Customers Careers Press & Media Contact Us Social Media NEWS Retail inMotion launches Augmented Reality shopping app on board Eurowings Discover Nov 10th 2021 Start the holiday season with Eurowings Discover’s freshly made meals Nov 1st 2021 More News Items → © Retail inMotionTerms & ConditionsPrivacy Policy We and our partners are using technologies like cookies and process personal data like the IP-address or browser information in order to personalise the advertising that you see. This helps us to show you more relevant ads and improves your internet experience. We also use it in order to measure results or align our website content. Because we value your privacy, we are herewith asking for your permission to use these technologies. You can always change/withdraw your consent later by clicking on the settings button on the left lower corner of the page. Read more Accept all Functional only View preferences