Apple, Facebook To Women Employees: Keep Working, We'll Pay To Freeze Your Eggs Facebook and Apple have both announced an uncommon program to help their women employees lean all the way in. The tech giants will now cover the cost of egg-freezing treatments for women (and their male partners) who want to delay their family plans in favor of advancing their careers. Facebook began their program in January of this year, and Apple will begin offering the perk in early 2015. The oocyte cryopreservation procedure currently costs an estimated $10,000, with an average additional cost of $500 per year to maintain frozen egg storage. The companies, NBC News reports, will each offer up to $20,000 for the procedure under their health benefit programs for fertility and surrogacy. The earlier a woman undergoes egg freezing treatments, the greater chance she has at harvesting fertile eggs, which is why women under the age of 30 tend to have greater success in becoming pregnant. As more women choose to pursue careers over families in their late twenties and early thirties, however, they face the obstacle of their diminishing potential to become pregnant later in life. In highly-competitive and thriving Silicon Valley in particular, young women are steadily becoming a larger part of the workforce and are choosing to dedicate their young adulthood to getting ahead in their careers. One cited reason for America’s gender pay gap is that women fall behind men in their careers when they take time off to raise children. This often happens during a point in their lives when their earning potential is about to climb much higher, which puts women at a disadvantage when they re-enter the workforce. Facebook and Apple, then, are providing an opportunity for women have more choices for family planning and therefore rise up more easily within company ranks. A Bloomberg Businessweek cover story earlier this year pondered the benefits of freezing one’s eggs in order to free one’s career. Author Emma Rosenblum posited, “Imagine a world in which life isn’t dictated by a biological clock. If a 25-year-old banks her eggs and, at 35, is up for a huge promotion, she can go for it wholeheartedly without worrying about missing out on having a baby. She can also hold out for the man or woman of her dreams.” There is undoubtedly a huge corporate benefit to this program as well, as Apple and Facebook are less likely to temporarily lose young, hungry female employees to child-rearing. In the fierce competition for talent in Silicon Valley, Facebook and Apple were already winners, but this new move to support the family and career goals of its employees may put them even farther in the lead for attracting career-driven women. By Chanelle Bessette on 10/14/2014 Source: Forbes
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Answer the following questions in your own words. (4 points) Who are egg-freezing procedures aimed at? They are aimed at women employees who prefer to improve professionally before they have a family, as well as at their partners. What is the best age for a woman to start an egg-freezing treatment? Why? The most advisable age for a woman to undergo this treatment is before they are 30. What is the ‘gender pay gap’? Explain why it may happen. The ‘gender pay gap’ is the difference in the salary received by men and women, being women’s lower in some situations. According to the text, it may happen when women stop or delay their careers to focus on their families. When they come back to work, their salary is lower as compared to men and women who didn’t make that decision. How will businesses benefit from egg-freezing programmes? The most obvious benefit is that companies will have more stable staff, as young female employees who take part in these programmes won’t be taking maternity leaves until they secure a good position in the company.
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Are these statements TRUE or FALSE? Give evidence in each case. (4 points) Business companies will not pay for the entire egg-freezing procedure. False. “The tech giants will now cover the cost of egg-freezing treatments for women (and their male partners) who want to delay their family plans in favor of advancing their careers.” (lines 2-4) “The companies, NBC News reports, will each offer up to $20,000 for the procedure under their health benefit programs for fertility and surrogacy.” (lines 5,6) The number of women employees is decreasing in technology companies. False. “In highly-competitive and thriving Silicon Valley in particular, young women are steadily becoming a larger part of the workforce” (lines 10,11) Undergoing this treatment will affect a woman’s personal life in a negative way. False. “If a 25-year-old banks her eggs and, at 35, is up for a huge promotion, she can go for it wholeheartedly without worrying about missing out on having a baby. She can also hold out for the man or woman of her dreams.” (lines 17-19) This initiative will possibly attract women who would choose a family over a successful career. False. “This new move to support the family and career goals of its employees may put them even farther in the lead for attracting career-driven women.” (lines 22,23)
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Provide SYNONYMS for the following words or expressions. (2 points) incentive (paragraph 1) staff (paragraph 2)
PERK WORKFORCE
enthusiastically (paragraph 3) WHOLEHEARTEDLY raising (paragraph 4) REARING