We celebrate baby announcements at work. The gifts, the cakes, the heartfelt Slack posts. But what about the women who never get to that moment?
In Australia, one in six people experience infertility. One in seven live with endometriosis. And still, most workplaces have no policy, no conversation, and certainly no leave to support what comes before parenthood—or what happens when it doesn’t arrive at all.
Lawyer and Legalite founder Marianne Marchesi knows the silence all too well.
While growing her award-winning commercial law firm, she was also undergoing round after round of IVF. Hospital appointments, daily injections, hormonal crashes all taken on quietly, with client meetings scheduled around embryo transfers. It wasn’t until years later that she received a diagnosis: endometriosis. The pain she’d been told was “just a bad period” had a name.
Now, she’s determined to make sure no one else has to ‘quiet cope’ through the same.
Last week, Legalite introduced one of Australia’s most progressive workplace policies: 12 days of paid reproductive health leave, covering IVF, miscarriage, menstruation, endometriosis, menopause and more. The policy is inclusive, flexible, and, crucially available to everyone, regardless of gender.
“Workplaces were designed by men, for men. Not for people, especially women, going through the real, biological and reproductive health challenges,” says Marchesi. “We’re still expected to show up as if nothing is happening, when behind the scenes, so many are grieving, juggling appointments, or simply pushing through chronic pain.”
Beyond baby announcements
The policy is a direct response to what Marchesi calls a “massive empathy gap” in workplace culture—where conversations about pregnancy are celebrated, but everything leading up to it is shrouded in stigma or dismissed altogether.
Fertility treatment, for example, isn’t a one-off. It’s a months-long, often years-long process physically, emotionally, and financially exhausting. In Australia, a single IVF cycle can cost upwards of $10,000 out of pocket. Most people require multiple cycles. And yet only around 11 per cent of workplaces offer any form of leave to accommodate it.
At the same time, conditions like endometriosis and menopause continue to go unsupported despite their massive toll on productivity and wellbeing. In fact, reproductive health issues are now estimated to cost the Australian economy over $21 billion a year in lost productivity, largely due to ‘presenteeism’: showing up to work while unwell.
“You shouldn’t have to choose between your health and your career,” says Marchesi. “And you shouldn’t need a massive HR department to create a safe, inclusive policy. If we can do it with a small team, others can too.”
What real support looks like
While global tech giants can offer six-figure fertility benefits (think Pinterest, Meta, Google), Legalite’s approach is grounded in lived experience and designed to be accessible especially for small businesses.
Their standalone policy includes:
- 12 days of paid leave per year for reproductive health needs (beyond standard sick leave)
- Inclusive language that covers all genders, bodies, and paths to parenthood
- No requirement to disclose diagnosis or medical details
- Flexible use (half days, scattered leave, or blocks of time)
It’s the kind of policy Marchesi says she wishes had existed when she was trying to become a mother.
And it’s resonating far beyond Legalite’s walls. Since sharing the policy online, Marchesi has received messages from founders, employees, and HR leads across the country and globally asking how they can implement something similar.
“There are no catches,” she says. “If you’re an employer who wants to support your people better, I’ll happily walk you through it. This is about workplaces reflecting the real, human people that work there.”
A quiet revolution
In a workplace landscape still dominated by outdated norms, Legalite’s move is part of a growing push for reproductive justice in the workplace. Alongside progressive firms like Deloitte (which now offers miscarriage leave) and a handful of forward-thinking SMEs, a quiet revolution is brewing – one that recognises not all reproductive experiences end in a baby. And that pain deserves care, too.
For Marianne Marchesi, it’s personal but it’s also professional. It’s about retention. Culture. Humanity.
“If we want all of our people, not just the biologically blessed, to thrive at work,” she says, “we need to stop expecting them to quietly cope. Let’s write policies that provide meaningful ways to uplift people, and support them through life’s real moments.”
What you can do today
- Audit your workplace leave policies, do they mention IVF, menstruation or menopause?
- If you’re a manager, check in with staff regularly and privately: “Is there anything you need more support with right now?”
- Share Legalite’s policy with your team. Spark the conversation.
Want to introduce your own policy? Marianne is offering free guidance for small businesses, no HR department required.