Online retail giant Amazon has extended a virtual reproductive support programme to its employees in over 50 countries around the world.
The programme, run by Maven Clinic, gives all Amazon employees and their partners virtual support for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), adoption, egg freezing, and other family-building benefits.
Employees have virtual access to obstetrician gynecologists, reproductive endocrinologists (fertility doctors), coaches, and other care providers to support fertility and the family-building journey, including with preconception, egg freezing, intrauterine insemination (IUI), IVF, adoption, and surrogacy.
Maven provides care advocates who act as guides for employees and work with them through their family-building journey, provide referrals to high-quality clinics and agencies, and advise on local family-building guidelines. Virtual care is available through video or message chat in 35 languages.
The programme has been available to US employees since 2019 and was extended to staff in Canada earlier this year. It has now been extended to include more than one million employees in countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
The programme also gives Amazon employees and their partners access to a range of online educational resources and helps to build connections with a community of others with similar experiences.
Lian Neeman, global director of benefits at Amazon, said: “Maven is an employee-friendly benefit that takes the guesswork out of the family-building process, which can often be confusing and overwhelming.
“Our benefits are designed to care for all our employees’ needs, and that means ensuring they have the resources they need to live their best lives, regardless of their personal circumstances. Maven’s approach to fertility and family-building supports our employees around the world and is tailored to each person.”
Heather Mellish, global president of Families@, Amazon’s family-focused employee group, added: “It’s great to see the addition of Maven to our benefits, which means that more Amazon families have access to world-class family-building resources.”
“This sort of support across the entire definition of the word family is exactly what [an organisation] should provide for its employees.”