Zora Health / Employer guide / Slovakia
Support employees through fertility treatment, and keep the talent you have invested in.
Fertility treatment rarely fits around a work calendar, and most employees go through it quietly, often while doing some of their best work. Zora Health helps you build practical fertility support, from policies and manager guidance to confidential care navigation and access to 128+ partner clinics in 16 countries, around your workforce and budget. Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with us.
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Five things Slovak HR leaders should know
- Slovakia’s total fertility rate was 1.46 in 2024, and births fell to about 42,000 in 2025. Clinics reported 8,288 assisted reproduction cycles for 5,159 women in 2024.
- Public health insurance pays for up to 3 IVF cycles for women under 40 with a listed medical indication. ICSI, freezing and frozen transfers are paid by the patient.
- Slovakia has no dedicated assisted reproduction act. A 1983 health ministry measure, still cited, refers to spouses, and the Family Act treats the woman who gives birth as the mother.
- Maternity benefit lasts 34 weeks at 75%, and since November 2022 fathers can claim 2 paid weeks within 6 weeks of the birth. There is no fertility leave.
- A fixed annual allowance can cover ICSI, frozen transfers, egg freezing and treatment from 40, and keeps the budget predictable.
Why fertility is a business problem for employers
Fertility treatment does not fit around a work calendar. A clinic sets the date of a scan the day before. Egg collection happens when the body is ready, usually about 36 hours after a final trigger injection. Then comes a two-week wait, and for many couples, another cycle. Your team feels it: missed meetings, unexplained absences, a strong performer who suddenly goes quiet.
About 1 in 6 people worldwide are affected by infertility (World Health Organization). The insurer Union estimates about 1 in 5 Slovak couples, without published data (SITA, September 2025). We found no Slovak survey of employees in fertility treatment. In Carrot’s 2023 survey of 5,000 people in Canada, India, Mexico, the UK and the US, 79% felt uncomfortable discussing fertility at work (Carrot).
- Resignations. 39% of employees with fertility challenges had left or were considering leaving their job during treatment, in Ferring’s 2025 survey of more than 3,600 employees and employers in Australia, France, Japan, Poland and the UK (Ferring).
- Lower performance. 55% of respondents in the same Carrot survey said fertility challenges had hurt their work performance (Carrot).
- Uneven access by region. In 2024, 6.2 per 1,000 women of reproductive age in the Bratislava Region had assisted reproduction treatment, against 3.2 per 1,000 in the Prešov Region (NCZI, December 2025).
- Cover ends at 40. Women over 40, who pay the full private price, were the largest group among the 490 cycles with donated eggs in 2024 (NCZI; Reprofit).
What employers gain
Keep the people you spent the most to develop
Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary, according to Gallup. Union data show Slovak women first seek help for fertility problems at about 26, with cases peaking around 30 (SITA, September 2025). 72.8% of women aged 15 to 64 were in the labour force in the second quarter of 2026 (OECD), so treatment often falls in the years when careers build. A written policy, paid time off and a funded allowance can help reduce attrition.
Stand out in a tight labour market
73% of employees with fertility challenges would be attracted to an employer offering fertility support, in the same Ferring survey (Ferring). 65% in the Carrot survey said they would change jobs for fertility benefits (Carrot). We found no published example of a Slovak employer funding IVF.
Make fertility support financially predictable
Employers can set annual or lifetime allowances and choose which treatments qualify.
Zora helps employers structure benefits around local treatment costs and insurance cover, so HR can run the programme within an agreed budget.
Want to see what this would look like for your Slovak workforce?
What IVF costs, and what the state pays
Slovak health insurers pay for up to 3 IVF cycles for women under 40 with a listed indication, such as blocked fallopian tubes, endometriosis, male factor infertility or unexplained infertility treated for a year without success (Government Regulation No. 777/2004, Part V). Clinics apply the regulation’s wording, "up to the 39th year of age", as up to 39 years and 364 days (GynCare, updated September 2026; Reprofit, 2026).
| Item | Private price (€) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IVF cycle with own eggs | 1,350 | Self-pay; includes a fresh transfer. €0 in an insured cycle |
| ICSI | 550 | Same price with or without insurance |
| Extended embryo culture | 400 | Same price with or without insurance |
| Freezing embryos | 380 | First 2 straws with 1 year of storage; €170 a year after that |
| Frozen embryo transfer | 530 | Same price with or without insurance |
| Elective egg freezing cycle | 1,600 | First cycle; €1,200 for a second |
| IVF with donated eggs | 5,500 | €4,400 for women under 40, when insurance pays its part |
| PGT-A genetic testing | 420 per embryo | Plus €400 for embryo biopsy per cycle |
| Intrauterine insemination | 300 | Same price with or without insurance |
Source: Reprofit Slovakia price list, Bratislava, valid from 1 January 2026. Stimulation drugs are not in these prices. Prices vary by clinic and city.
| Item | Public support (or own savings) | What the employee still carries |
|---|---|---|
| Public health insurance, IVF | Up to 3 cycles, as above; about two thirds of stimulation drug costs | ICSI, extended culture, freezing, storage, frozen transfers, genetic testing and about a third of drug costs |
| Union insurer extras | Up to €1,200 for ICSI, semen analysis and genetic testing; €200 for egg freezing on medical grounds | The rest; other insurers set their own terms |
| Women aged 40 or over, or after 3 insured cycles | None | The full private price |
Sources: Government Regulation No. 777/2004; GynCare, 2026; Reprofit, 2026; SITA, September 2025 for Union.
Age is one of the strongest predictors of IVF success. Slovakia publishes no success rates by age. The register recorded 1,461 clinical pregnancies from frozen cycles with the woman’s own eggs in 2024, against 4,160 frozen transfers, but NCZI gives no rate and does not say whether those transfers include donor-egg cycles (NCZI). In Germany’s national registry, the birth rate per fresh embryo transfer in 2023 was 30.9% for women aged 30 to 34, 26.3% at 35 and 9.3% at 41 to 44 (Deutsches IVF-Register).
ICSI, which patients pay for even in an insured cycle, was used in 73% of 2024 cycles with own eggs (NCZI), so the size of an allowance, and when employees can use it, matter as much as whether you offer one.
Give Employees Access to Fertility Specialists
Help employees navigate fertility care with access to doctors and clinics, treatment information, and clear guidance on IVF, egg freezing and other fertility options. Employees can explore their options privately, without needing to go through HR.
Fertility support that fits your workforce and budget
You do not need to overhaul your existing health insurance to support employees through fertility treatment. Start with awareness and manager education, add confidential one-to-one support, or introduce a funded allowance across your offices. There is no minimum company size.
Where included in the employer programme, eligible employees can use talks and care navigation without paying Zora a separate fee. Care navigation allowances are set in each proposal. Treatment and other third-party costs are paid separately, either by employees or through the fertility allowance their employer provides.
Companies starting the conversation
Essentials
Expert-led talks for employees and managers, fertility and menopause policy templates, manager guides and full access to the Zora app. Up to 2 talks a year.
Employees supported one to one
Navigation
Everything in Essentials, plus confidential one-to-one care navigation and access to our partner clinic network.
Large and multi-country teams
Complete
Everything in Navigation, plus quarterly anonymised reporting, a dedicated account manager and scheduled review meetings with HR.
Optional add-ons can be added to any programme, subject to availability: hormone and fertility diagnostics and telehealth with specialists. Pricing is tailored to your headcount, your countries and the services you choose. Most companies start with a single talk.
Request a proposal See how Zora works for employers
Comparing fertility benefit providers? Use our RFP question bank
Our RFP question bank has 40 questions, with why each one matters, what a good answer looks like and a scoring sheet for three providers. Six of the questions for Slovakia:
- Are local-plan employees covered, or only staff on international health plans?
- Do you require an infertility diagnosis before support starts?
- How does the allowance sit alongside public health insurance, so employees use insured cycles first and claim ICSI, freezing, frozen transfers and drugs from the allowance?
- Can employees aged 40 or over, or those who have used their 3 insured cycles, use the benefit for their own or donated eggs?
- Which clinics in Bratislava, Košice, Žilina and other cities do you work with, and how do you support employees outside the Bratislava Region?
- How do you handle health data as special category data under the GDPR and Act No. 18/2018, and what will the employer see?
Your download link appears here as soon as you submit. Zora Health may contact you about employee benefits; see our privacy policy.
Plan your fertility benefit budget
Fertility benefit budget planner
Model the annual claims budget for a fertility allowance. Change any number.
This is a claims budget, not a Zora quotation. Zora’s programme fees, implementation and optional services are separate.
Illustration only. Utilisation is an editable assumption, not observed Zora data. The calculation assumes each user claims their full annual allowance, and excludes programme fees and setup costs. For a tailored model, request an employer proposal.
Estimate the potential workforce impact of fertility challenges
A rough planning scenario. It applies a global infertility estimate to your headcount, so it is not a prediction for your workforce, a measured loss or a forecast of savings from any programme.
Range: €112,750 to €319,000 a year, depending on replacement cost.
Assumptions: infertility affects about 1 in 6 adults (World Health Organization, 2023), applied to employees aged 25 to 44. Replacing an employee costs one-half to two times their annual salary (Gallup, 2019); the headline uses the low end. Absence is valued at salary divided by 250 working days. Exit rate and days lost are your own assumptions.
This is a hypothetical cost scenario, not a prediction of actual employee departures, an estimate of Zora’s financial impact or a guaranteed saving from fertility benefits.
Already have corporate health insurance? Here is where Zora fits
Your medical plan may cover some consultations and tests, but fertility treatment is often limited or excluded, so check your policy wording. Employees still need to understand their options, the public funding they qualify for and which clinic suits them.
Zora works alongside your existing insurance and benefits. We help employees get reliable information, navigate their care options and reach suitable specialists, and we give HR manager guidance, policy templates and, on the Complete programme, anonymised reporting. You strengthen fertility support without replacing your medical plan.
How Zora works
For your employees
Employees join the Zora app with a company code, or single sign-on for larger teams. They can learn about fertility and egg freezing, understand what your benefit covers, book a confidential care navigation call and find partner clinics and specialists.
For HR
- Kick-off, week 1. Agree goals, countries and which employees are eligible.
- Policy and benefit design, weeks 2 to 4. Draft or update your fertility policy using our templates.
- Launch, typically weeks 4 to 6. A launch talk for employees and managers, plus a communications pack for HR to send.
- Live support. Employees book care navigation calls and use the Zora app.
- Reporting, every 3 months, on the Complete programme. Anonymised usage, common themes and our recommendations, reviewed with your account manager.
Privacy
Employee privacy is central to our programmes. On the Complete programme, routine employer reports contain aggregated engagement and utilisation information, with safeguards to prevent identification of individual employees. On every programme, personal health information is not included in standard HR reporting, and employees can get help without telling their manager. Where eligibility checks or claims administration need individual-level data, access is limited to authorised parties for defined purposes, as agreed in writing before launch. Employee data is handled in line with Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act and Slovakia’s application of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Act No. 18/2018 Coll. on personal data protection, which treat health data as special category data.
Clinics and doctors in Slovakia
Zora’s clinic and doctor directory does not list providers in Slovakia yet. It lists 421 clinics and 1,185 doctors across 25 countries, mostly in Asia Pacific and the Middle East (browse clinics or browse doctors). Employees in Slovakia can still use Zora’s education and the Zora app. Ask us how your team in Slovakia would use Zora before you launch. See Zora’s employer guides for every country.
Rules and eligibility in Slovakia
Who can use assisted reproduction
Slovakia has no dedicated assisted reproduction act. A 1983 Ministry of Health measure, still cited as the legal basis, permits artificial insemination only for spouses (AKMV law firm, April 2026). In practice clinics also treat unmarried couples; a 2013 Health Policy Institute review found they needed a notarised declaration of a stable relationship, and that the rules assume a man and a woman (HPI, 2013). Slovak law does not expressly settle the paternity of a child conceived with donated sperm (AKMV). Under the Family Act, the mother is the woman who gave birth, and contracts that conflict with this are void (Nagy, 2022, on Act No. 36/2005, sections 82 and 83).
Elective freezing is offered, at the patient’s cost
Egg freezing is not mentioned in the legislation but is practised, according to the 2013 HPI review (HPI). Egg donation is voluntary, anonymous and unpaid, a specialist at the Repromedica clinic said in January 2024 (Startitup); the HPI review found donors could be reimbursed costs such as travel.
Maternity, paternity and parental support
Maternity benefit runs for 34 weeks, 37 for a single mother and 43 for two or more children, at 75% of the daily assessment base (Podnikajte.sk, August 2026). Since 1 November 2022, fathers can claim paternity benefit (otcovské) at 75% for up to 14 days within 6 weeks of the birth, if they have 270 days of sickness insurance in the previous 2 years (Sociálna poisťovňa). From 1 January 2026, parental allowance is €500.10 a month for a parent who was entitled to maternity benefit and €364.80 otherwise (Measure No. 366/2025), paid until the child is 3, or 6 in specific cases (Podnikajte.sk, 2026).
Discrimination, dismissal and flexible work
The Anti-discrimination Act lists sex, sexual orientation and marital or family status among protected grounds, and treats discrimination due to pregnancy or motherhood as sex discrimination (Act No. 365/2004, sections 2 and 2a). The Labour Code bars employers from asking candidates about pregnancy or family circumstances (White & Case). Under section 64 of the Labour Code, an employer may not give notice to an employee who is pregnant, on maternity leave or on parental leave, with narrow exceptions such as the employer closing down (WageIndicator, April 2026; Podnikajte.sk). Since 1 November 2022, an employee caring for a child under 8 can ask to work from home, and an employer who refuses must explain why in writing (Wolf Theiss).
Automatic maternity claims
From 1 August 2026, doctors are moving to an electronic pregnancy book, with the rollout due by 31 January 2027. Once a doctor records the pregnancy in it, the Social Insurance Agency starts the maternity benefit claim without an application, unless the woman objects to data sharing or wants a different start date (Sociálna poisťovňa; Slovensko.sk, August 2026). The amendment behind automatic claims was moved from 1 April to 1 July 2026, with a transition period to 31 December 2026 in which the standard application form is still used where a claim cannot be started electronically (Podnikajte.sk, August 2026).
Why employers choose Zora
Companies including Hilton, LinkedIn, Sanofi, HSBC, Mastercard, Carousell and Singapore Management University work with Zora Health. We work alongside your existing insurance, helping employees use the cover they already have and find suitable specialists based on their needs.
Trying to conceive with a heavy workload took a toll on my husband and me. It helped us understand our options.
Questions HR teams ask us
Is fertility leave mandatory in Slovakia?
No. Slovak law has no fertility leave, so time off for clinic visits depends on the employer’s policy, sick leave rules or the employee’s own leave. Once a child is born, maternity benefit lasts 34 weeks at 75% of the daily assessment base, and fathers can take 2 paid weeks within 6 weeks of the birth.
Does public health insurance pay for IVF in Slovakia?
Yes, for basic treatment. Insurers pay for up to 3 IVF cycles for women under 40 with a listed medical indication, such as blocked tubes, endometriosis or male factor infertility. Patients pay for ICSI, extended culture, freezing, storage, frozen embryo transfers and genetic testing, and pay the full price after 3 cycles or from 40.
Can employees freeze their eggs in Slovakia?
Yes. A Bratislava clinic charged €1,600 for a first elective egg freezing cycle in 2026, plus yearly storage. Insurers do not pay for elective freezing; Union contributes €200 when there is a confirmed medical reason. Using the eggs later is IVF, which current rules frame around a couple.
Does Zora replace our health insurance?
No. Zora works alongside your insurance. We help employees understand their options, find suitable specialists and use the cover they already have.
How much does a fertility benefit cost an employer?
It depends on the allowance, eligibility and expected uptake. Use the budget planner on this page for a first estimate, then ask us for a tailored proposal based on your headcount and countries.
How quickly can we launch?
Typically 4 to 6 weeks from contract to launch, depending on scope and countries. Most companies start with a single talk.
Related guides for Slovak employers
Build a fertility benefit for your team
Whether you are introducing fertility benefits for the first time or improving an existing programme, tell us your headcount, countries and priorities. We will come back within two working days with suitable services, an indicative budget and a practical rollout plan for your Slovak team. No obligation.
Not ready to talk yet? Explore how Zora works
Sources
- Institute for Strategy and Analyses, Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic, Bociany v kríze: Ako zvýšiť pôrodnosť na Slovensku, December 2025
- TASR, Stats: Slovakia Population Declines for Fifth Year, Births Hit Record Low, April 2026
- NCZI, Asistovaná reprodukcia v roku 2024, press release, 10 December 2025
- Reprofit Slovakia, Cenník IVF, Bratislava, valid from 1 January 2026
- SITA, Neplodnosť trápi čoraz viac Sloveniek, September 2025
- Health Policy Institute, Policy on Assisted Reproduction in Slovakia, 2013
- AKMV, Výživné a umelé oplodnenie, April 2026
- Nagy, Comparison of Surrogacy laws of Austria, Slovakia and Ukraine, 2022
- Wolf Theiss, Slovakia: extensive amendment to the Labour Code, November 2022
- Opatrenie MPSVR SR č. 366/2025 Z. z. o ustanovení súm rodičovského príspevku (Slov-Lex)
- Sociálna poisťovňa, How to apply for maternity benefit
- Act No. 365/2004 Coll., Anti-discrimination Act, as amended 2014 (Legislationline)
- White & Case, GDPR guide to national implementation: Slovakia
- General Data Protection Regulation, Article 9
- OECD via FRED, Labor force participation rate, female, 15 to 64, Slovak Republic
- Deutsches IVF-Register, Jahrbuch 2024, edition for couples
- Nariadenie vlády SR č. 777/2004 Z. z., Part V, assisted reproduction (Slov-Lex)
- GynCare, Koľko stojí liečba neplodnosti a umelé oplodnenie, April 2023, updated September 2026
- Startitup, Darovanie vajíčok nie je len o finančnej odmene (Repromedica), January 2024
- Sociálna poisťovňa, Nová dávka pre otcov: otcovské od 1. novembra 2022, October 2022
- Podnikajte.sk, Materské v roku 2026, updated August 2026
- Podnikajte.sk, Peňažné dávky pre rodiča v roku 2026, updated May 2026
- WageIndicator Slovakia, Ochrana pred výpoveďou (Labour Code section 64), updated April 2026
- Podnikajte.sk, Výpoveď počas tehotenstva a materskej dovolenky, 2021
- Slovensko.sk, Všetko na pár kliknutí: tehotenstvo a materské, August 2026
- Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Fertility Matters at Work and This Can Happen, workplace fertility survey, November 2025
- Carrot Fertility, Global Fertility at Work report, 2023
- Gallup, This fixable problem costs US businesses $1 trillion, 2019
- World Health Organization, 1 in 6 people globally affected by infertility, April 2023
Information on this page is correct as of 5 November 2026. Laws, public funding, insurance rules and treatment costs change often, so check current rules with the relevant authority, insurer or a qualified adviser before making decisions. This page is general information, not legal, financial, tax or medical advice.