Egg Freezing Option at Facebook – Is it a Game Changing Employee Benefit?

During the month of January 2014, Facebook Inc (Facebook) introduced a new option for its women employees. It offered to provide financial assistance for those interested in availing of the opportunity of Oocyte Cyropreservation (freezing of women’s reproductive eggs). The company was ready to pay $20,000 toward the procedure, which was considered expensive for most individuals to bear . Facebook felt this option could benefit women employees who were interested in focusing on building their careers.

The management of Facebook also felt that this strategy could help them to retain talented women employees and to overcome the challenge of increasing attrition levels. They also believed that it could provide an opportunity for women employees to advance their careers in the organization. Facebook’s HR practices were able to motivate and attract a large number of people across the world to work with the organization. But it faced criticism from different sections of the society for introducing the egg freezing option for its employees as a part employee benefits.