Fertility, Birthing, and Miscarriage

Watch the video

For each session in the series, we collaborated with a performance company to develop a video resource that can be used to illustrate the content of the research themes. These creative responses to each topic are aimed toward sparking discussion, debate, and the development of inclusive workplace practices. You may wish to show these videos, and use the additional resources we have collated, in your work workplace as a way of starting discussions around the issues depicted.

These are the 10 key learned lessons from this event that we would like to share with organizations.

1. Every person has a different experience of fertility, birthing and miscarriage; organisations should be mindful of different circumstances.
2. Policies are useful, and the naming of particular experiences such as miscarriage or stillbirth is important to acknowledge and support people who experience them.
3. It is important that these life experiences are not ignored or silenced in the workplace as these are part of life and should not be perceived as being in contrast to notions of ‘professionalism’.
4. One policy hardly ever fits all –it is important to create flexibility within policies to address individual needs.
5. Issues around fertility,  pregnancy,  birthing,  pregnancy endings and baby loss can affect and marginalise some groups of people more than others –it is important to foster equity (acknowledging that people have different experiences, backgrounds, needs and circumstances) rather than equality (the same treatment for all).
6. The impact of fertility, pregnancy, birthing, pregnancy endings and baby loss on women tends to be more severe due to the physical recovery needed.
7. Line managers and policymakers need to undergo training to understand how best to support employees.
8. Flexible work arrangements may be needed to accommodate medical checks,  recovery times, mental wellbeing and mourning.
9. People are likely to expect and need different types and levels of support –it is important not to take these for granted and to have open communication with staff.
10. If the provision of support is not available within the organisation, there are a number of external non-governmental institutions, charities and third sector organisations that may be able to help. Clear signposting is useful.

Explore our workshops