The F Word at Work

Cadent Gas - Internal Support Matters

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Episode notes

Welcome to another episode of The F Word at Work in this episode we're talking about how a change can come about in support of fertility struggles, from employees driving the change. You'll hear two amazing examples. The first is Natalie Sutherland from Burgess Mee, who is the UK's first 'Fertility Officer' and has led the way for her firm to become the UK's first organisation to become 'fertility friendly' with our accreditation. Then you'll hear from Kelly-Anne Morris, an employee at Cadent Gas who we've just launched our services with.

What we discussed:

Kelly needed to have her fallopian tubes removed, so knew she was going to need treatment when she was ready to build her family.
Once she met her partner and was ready, she looked to see what policies what was available - she had a supportive manage yet nothing was written, so the approach wasn’t consistent
Women In Cadent - had leads on improvements within the workforce which is where Kelly got involved which was how she got involved in meetings.
Started speaking about IVF - doing a survey to find out about other people’s experiences
First person she spoke to was in HR - at the time there was a lot of change happening in the company
Now at a point where all family provisions policies are being reviewed.
It takes time to find the right people
As Kelly was trying to put content together - she realised how much support she needed, such as regarding the LGBTQ communuty
How she came to FMAW for facts and figures
How it can be challenging at times, questioning whether she’s doing it right and has time to give it her full attention - when she doubts herself and then gets an email to thank her for what she’s been doing.
News articles from people sharing their stories have been mixed genders ( including Men in leadership )
Fertility Focus policy also cover partners - eg. if the Man works at Cadent and his partner doesn’t they hope to support the person wanting to accompany their partner.

Watch our FMAW 30 minute demo on our services to find out exactly how we'd support your organisation with our training and membership