Irish start-up aims to end drain of ‘talented women giving up their careers every day because of fertility issues’

For more than a decade, Alison Clarke had a successful career in wealth management and enjoyed the fast pace and the pressures that went with it. However, when she began experiencing difficulties in starting a family she began to wonder if her high-powered job was a factor.

Convinced that work-related stress was affecting her ability to conceive Clarke decided to resign and in January this year she founded Fembition, which is on a mission to stop women leaving the workforce because their pregnancy and fertility problems go unnoticed and unaddressed.

The Fembition platform is aimed at individuals who need fertility support and at employers who want to retain their female talent while also closing the gender representation gap and building a more inclusive workplace culture. From a corporate perspective, the company’s target market is white collar companies with upwards of 250 employees who don’t have a fertility assistance programme in place. At an individual level Fembition’s typical clients are those aged 32-42 who are often in senior roles within their organisations.

“Work-related stress was definitely impacting my fertility and the treatment outcomes, but I didn’t want to disclose this private information, even though I craved support, as I felt women were already discriminated against enough for different reasons. So, after numerous failed fertility treatments I made the decision to resign to give myself the best chance at motherhood,” says Clarke who had worked with both Merrill Lynch and Julius Baer.

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“What I quickly realised was that I was not alone. This was a common problem, but not one people talked about openly. Instead, talented women were giving up their careers every day because of fertility issues,” she adds. “This was leading to depleted talent pools and the cost to employers of this unnecessary “fertility flight risk” was significant. It should not come down to a choice between career and motherhood and this is far less likely to happen if the right supports are in place.

[ Fertility services to be provided free of charge for first time this month ]

“There are many employee assistance programmes that provide general mental health and wellbeing support services and while I had access to a suite of supports at work, there was nothing that catered to fertility. It was this gap that led to the formation of Fembition because from the feedback I was getting on my blog about polycystic ovarian syndrome it was very clear that work/career-related stress was seriously affecting women’s health and fertility,” Clarke says.

Fembition is now in its pilot stage with trials ongoing with a number of fertility clinics, which gives Clarke access to a cohort of women prepared to share what they’re going through. “These pilots are allowing us to refine our MPV and make sure it’s fit for purpose before we start approaching the corporate community,” she says. “We’re providing e-learning resources and working with them in areas such as the regulation of the stress response as those in demanding careers typically have raised levels of cortisol and adrenaline and lower levels of pregnancy hormones.”

There are a number of stages to the company’s corporate programme, which starts with an analysis of the organisation’s fertility flight risk exposure in monetary terms. It also examines the workplace culture as it relates to fertility and takes the pulse on how fertility, pregnancy and motherhood are perceived and how women in particular feel about these issues as their careers progress.

[ Opinion: It’s no wonder the average age of new mothers in Ireland is at an all-time high ]

Fembition also highlights blind spots around fertility/pregnancy awareness – as these issues rarely come up in exit interviews – and provides coaching and a tailored strategy to raise fertility awareness and support at work.

Clarke spent roughly €30,000 setting up her business between personal investment and support from Roscommon LEO and the New Frontiers programme at ATU Sligo. The company’s revenue model is still being finalised, but Clarke’s plan is to licence Fembition’s materials for use in the corporate sector for an annual fee.