Welcome to another episode of The F Word at Work where we're sharing one of our original zoom conversations broadcast in 2022. An enlightening conversation with Mike Johnson-Ellis one half of Two Dads UK with his partner Wes and the pair have founded My Surrogacy Journey (MSJ) and the Modern Family Show. At Fertility Matters at Work we're delighted to be working in partnership with MSJ and you can find out more about what that looks like by having a listen. What was discussed: The lack of empathy that Mike expereinced when he talked to his work about his plans. How they had no understanding of infertility or why he would want to attend appointments with his SurrogateHow Mike had no emotional support, nobody asked him what he needed or what he was going throughHis colleagues were far to afraid of saying the wrong thing so they said nothing resulting in Mike not getting any support and feeling the pressure of doing his job as he was distracted by what he was going through. tHow everyone in his work environment couldn't believe he wanted a babyThe Toxic masculinityLack of awareness in organisations - 10 years on from when same sex marriages became legal. At that point in time businesses should have started thinking about what that would mean and what people would need and they didn't. How a basic employment skill is knowing your business and your people and the importance of how we learn by our curiosity - asking people within an organisation what they need support with Why surrogacy fills people with fear -it's not just for same-sex couples it is for women who can't carry Explaination of Intended Parents (IP's) How organisations who proudly say they support LBGT communications - need to ask themselves has the conversation has gone deep enough to find out what they really needLack of people talking about policies so we need there to be more conversationsUse staff networks, ideas captures, and forums involving different groups. to raise awareness of this and get the conversation started, you can do it anonymouslyThe issue with the use of word adoption being used when people are going through surrogacy, you aren't adopting it you are having a biological childPolicies are very heteronormative Why surrogacy fills people with fear -it's not just for same-sex couples it is for women who can't carry Thanks once again to our series sponsor Apricity. Book a call to speak with us here Watch our FMAW 30-minute demo on our services to find out exactly how we'd support your organisation with our training and membership  Find out more about our services here  Follow us on Insta and hear what our community has to say  Join us on Linked In  Find us on Twitter