A comprehensive fertility platform goes beyond helping people have a baby. At accounting software company Xero, a partnership with Carrot Fertility offers employees support at
Two Xero employees, Martha Coraggio, a senior account manager based in Texas, and Deana Sdao, head of social media for the Americas, U.K. and EMEA and based in Toronto, utilized the Carrot benefit at very different phases in their
Sdao, who is in her mid-30s, had looked into freezing her eggs while in her 20s, but the high cost made it prohibitive. A combination of
"It's been such a weight lifted off my shoulders," she says. "I know my career ambitions. I don't anticipate I'll have kids until my mid- to late 30s, so I was just trying to set myself up for that. My manager was very flexible with me, I didn't have any stress and the support from work gave me the comfort [level] to share my journey, which I don't know that I would have felt okay doing otherwise."
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Parenthood has been part of Sdao's life plan for a long time, so much so that she made it a point to inquire about Xero's maternity leave policy when she originally interviewed with them in 2021. New moms and dads at the company get 26 weeks of parental leave, more than double the national average, and leadership is vocal about their support and personal use of this benefit.
"We know that creating and caring for a family can be very difficult even under the best circumstances," says Alex Duba, a people experience adviser at Xero. "We want our employees to feel supported on their journey to becoming parents and after they enter parenthood."
More women are choosing to have children in their 30s — nearly 20% had their first baby after age 30 in 2023, according to the CDC. More people are also building families through adoption and surrogacy. All of this means recruiting and retaining talent often comes down to offering holistic, inclusive family benefits. It's about creating optionality and equity among a workforce, and fertility and family-building opportunities are a big part of that, says Brooke Quinn, Carrot's chief operating officer. Since Carrot's introduction at Xero, annual employee utilization of the benefit has been as high as 30%.
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"After every interaction with our team, [our members] get a survey that asks how likely they are to stay with their employer as a result of being offered fertility or family-building benefits,'" Quinn says. "Over the years, we have found that nine out of 10 employees say that because their employer offers these life-changing benefits, they are more likely to want to stay with their employer."
Through the Carrot benefit, Xero employees receive up to $10,000 in eligible care, and have access to services like fertility testing, fertility options and health education, guidance for hormonal changes due to menopause and low testosterone levels, and what Coraggio found helpful following the birth of her second child: postpartum doula care and lactation consultation. Already a mother to a 3-year-old son, she chose to have someone come in starting two weeks after her daughter was born for a month. Carrot allows members to choose the doula they wish to work with, as long as the person or service meets its guidelines.
"The doula was great; she came three times a week and would stay four hours every time," Coraggio says. "She would just be present in the room with the baby while she was sleeping and when she woke up, she would feed her, change her diaper, and clean the bottles. It allowed me time to nap or run an errand, and my son got more one-on-one time with me than [he would have] without it. I even got the chance to go to our Xero team's holiday dinner. It was really nice to have little moments like that."
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Coraggio had the same supportive experience with a lactation consultant, whom she says offered great advice, including ways to increase her milk production. By offering six months of parental leave, providing employees with benefits like Carrot, and knowing others including her manager had used these benefits, the company makes employees feel good about taking time to be with their family, she says.
"I really feel like they care, and that how we feel matters," Coraggio says. "It reinforces it within the culture, versus it just being a thing on paper."
