We spoke to Clare (HR Business Partner and Menopause Champion at Foot Anstey) and Kerri (People and Reward Manager) about why they implemented reproductive health benefits with Fertifa, and how the company has built an inclusive and open culture at Foot Anstey.

Foot Anstey is one of the UK's leading law firms and is proud to support its employees through all menopause, fertility, family-forming, and gender-based health challenges.  

Kerri, Clare and the wider People team have been doing significant work over the last few years to support their people's health and wellbeing - from evolving their mental health support to developing family-friendly benefits.  One thing they noticed consistently was the gap in fertility and reproductive health care and the impact this was having on lots of peoples’ mental health and wellbeing.  

The Foot Anstey mission

To continually evolve and innovate the firm's health and wellbeing support for its people

In the last 12 months, Foot Anstey has enhanced parental leave to six months full pay, created a menopause group with menopause champions, implemented a transition policy, period policy, premature birth policy, and paid fertility leave.  

On top of this, Foot Anstey has made many seemingly small changes that have driven impact, like putting free sanitary products into bathrooms. They found that the more changes they made, the more their people felt able to talk with their colleagues and in the workplace about the difficult journeys they were going through. Subsequently, the Foot Anstey People team became more aware of how many people were struggling with fertility, menopause and reproductive health challenges.

All these changes added up to one conclusion: the need to evolve their support for their people even further.

Their challenge

To find a benefits provider that could plug that gap for their employees

Foot Anstey looked at different private medical insurance (PMI) providers and found a gap in cover for fertility, menopause, or other reproductive health concerns. They were also aware of the difficulties faced by those seeking support from their GP or the NHS.  

The team required a reproductive and gender-based health benefit that would allow it to support all their employees through these life stages.  

The Fertifa solution

Foot Anstey knew what it wanted: a truly inclusive provider that could support its employees across all life stages. More specifically, it was looking for a provider that:

• Offered a diverse benefit available and applicable to everyone and which could support people through all stages of life.  
• Included a holistic approach that would have a real impact for those who really needed it.  
• Supported employees beyond education – through treatment and beyond.
• Enabled easy and convenient access, no matter geographic location, age, gender, relationship status or sexual orientation.  

After a full market review, Foot Anstey decided that Fertifa ticked all the boxes and was the right provider for them.  

“Fertifa is able to support our wider DE&I commitment because it’s allowed us to look at different life stages and situations equally’ - Kerri  

Working with Fertifa has meant the company is able to support people with reproductive health challenges of all kinds. Many other providers could only fund IVF or similar fertility treatments, however working with Fertifa means the team can support people with menopause consultations, adoption and surrogacy costs, and even treatment for matters such as endometriosis or testosterone deficiency. The benefit is equally inclusive for all life stages.  

“It makes a statement of being able to have an open dialogue. It has a universal value to our people”- Clare  

Being an employer of choice is important to Foot Anstey and forward-thinking benefits such as these help the company to stand out from the crowd. The team has recognised how implementing Fertifa has had a universal value for all employees, even those who are not directly struggling with reproductive health concerns. From prospective employees at the interview stage through to long-standing members of the team, this benefit has made an impactful statement about Foot Anstey being a supportive employer and shown colleagues that they can raise anything in their lives with which they need help.  

The impact they've seen so far

"The impact on the culture of the firm has been significant. It has helped us become an employer of choice" - Kerri

So far, the response has been remarkable. One year since the launch of the Fertifa benefit, Foot Anstey has seen:

• Over 15% of employees have started using the Fertifa app
• Over 20% of Foot Anstey employees have joined a Fertifa webinar with our in-house clinical team
• 43% of Foot Anstey patients have spoken with a Fertifa Nurse or Midwife
• Over £50,000 has been reimbursed to 3% of Foot Anstey employees for fertility treatment costs

The people team at Foot Anstey has also noticed a reduction in absence since introducing the benefit. The time taken out for things like family-forming, fertility and menopause leave over the last few years compared to now has significantly reduced as a direct correlation of providing much more support, financially and emotionally, as a business.

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Best of all, several people who were undergoing fertility treatment have come forward to thank the team for putting this in place; “It will be life-changing for them”.  

One thing Foot Anstey did not expect was how grateful people were to be able to access support resources. Managers and friends of colleagues who are going through a fertility journey have said how useful the support resources provided by Fertifa are in learning about fertility terminology and what to say when someone is struggling.  

Other people, who have been through fertility treatment themselves in the past, have volunteered to set up an internal support network for colleagues who might be starting a similar journey.  

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There is an overarching feeling that these are no longer optional benefits. If you want to stay relevant to your workforce, it's an important step to take" - Kerri

Overall, the cultural impact has been fantastic and demonstrates the genuine care Foot Anstey and its employees all have for one another.  

Want to learn more about how Fertifa could help your company? We’d love to talk 💜