Li Yan (L), pregnant with her second child, lies on a bed as her daughter places her head on her mother's stomach in Hefei, Anhui province February 20, 2014. Li gave birth to a baby boy on February 23, 2014 after Li's family became the first to receive a
Li Yan (L), pregnant with her second child, lies on a bed as her daughter places her head on her mother's stomach in Hefei, Anhui province February 20, 2014. Li gave birth to a baby boy on February 23, 2014 after Li's family became the first to receive a birth permit to have a second child in the province earlier this month, local media reported. Chinese government said late last year it would allow millions of families to have two children, with a relaxation of its one-child policy if one of the parents was an only child. Picture taken February 20, 2014. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS)
Li Yan (L), pregnant with her second child, lies on a bed as her daughter places her head on her mother's stomach in Hefei, Anhui province February 20, 2014. Li gave birth to a baby boy on February 23, 2014 after Li's family became the first to receive a birth permit to have a second child in the province earlier this month, local media reported. Chinese government said late last year it would allow millions of families to have two children, with a relaxation of its one-child policy if one of the parents was an only child. Picture taken February 20, 2014. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: SOCIETY POLITICS)

Two technology giants have upped the game insofar as retaining their employees are concerned. Apple and Facebook are offering their female workers up to $20,000 to have their eggs frozen so they could keep their engagement with their companies while tapping science to ensure they could still bear children when they decide to later.

Facebook's offer is up to $20,000 for the egg freezing procedure which could cost up to $10,000, in addition to the annual $500 storage fee. Apple promised to cover the entire cost beginning January 2015.

The Cupertino-based tech giant said that the egg freezing perk is just one of the many that Apple is offering as part of the new extended maternity leave policy. Its support for other infertility treatments include cryopreservation and egg storage. Apple also has an Adoption Assistance programme in which the tech giant would reimburse the eligible expenses related to the legal adoption by an employee of a child.

"We want to empower women at Apple to do the best work of their lives as they care for loved ones and raise their families," an Apple spokesperson said, quoted by Techcrunch.

The offer by Facebook and Apple is the first by a major technology company to include egg freezing as a perk. Other tech giants such as Google have unlimited vacation, work-from-home arrangements, casual work environment, food prepared by five-star chefs, massage and on-site laundry services just to retain these workers. Facebook also gives new parents $4,000 baby cash.

The decision of the two tech giants to offer egg-preservation perks as their response to the biological clocks of their female workers ticking appears to be their response to a 2013 study. The research published in Fertility and Sterility, said that 20 per cent of women pointed to inflexible workplace environment as the reason behind their decision not to get pregnant.

Women workers see cryptopreservation as one possible solution to their ticking biological clocks and value for their careers, although Techcrunch pointed out that other issues remain such as the average 35 per cent success rate per cycle of the procedure and the insufficient time to recover from post birth.

More information about the egg freezing technology in this video.

YouTube/FCIonline