Company becomes first in the UK to offer women flexible working during menstrual cycle

The move was prompted by a recent study of 2,000 woman in the UK which looked at attitudes towards periods in the workplace.

The report, published by Intimina, shows that 69% of working women believe organisations should implement an HR policy to allow women to harness the benefits of their menstrual cycles.

Despite efforts to remove gender inequality in the workplace, research has found that women still feel suppressed when it comes to discussing one of the most natural human processes vital to mankind.

It found that 63% of women feel there is a stigma attached to discussing periods in the workplace, with over half (57%) saying they feel embarrassed to mention it at work.

The problem gets worse when almost half of all women (44%) feel unable to say they have to take time off as a result of period-related problems, with only one fifth (20%) actually being honest about the issue with their employer.

The findings also showed widespread agreement (69%) that organisations should implement a HR policy to allow women to harness the benefits of their menstrual cycles to make it easier for them to work whilst on their periods.

With a further two thirds (67%) who claim they would be more inclined to apply and accept a job if the company has a menstruation policy in place.

As a result, Intimina UK is introducing a new HR policy in support of women that encourages women to harness the power of their menstrual cycle and arrange significant work dates to complement their hormones.

The new policy will see its employees enjoy Menstrual Care Days which includes the following:

Ability to arrange and rearrange meetings based on individual menstrual cycle’s to help increase productivity

Option to work flexi-morning’s starting one hour later than normal to account for increased tiredness in the run up to your period and while menstruating

Offer free eco-friendly menstrual care allowances for individuals

When asked what workplace initiatives would make it easier for them to be at work during their periods, almost half (46%) called for free tampons or sanitary pads, and 39% would like free painkillers.

Manuela Donetto INTIMINA UK HR Manager said: “We believe it’s important that every woman feels empowered not just on their period but throughout their whole menstrual cycle, which is why we have introduced this new policy to help ensure that our teams can take advantage of the many positive side effects that our periods bring.

“For too long premenstrual symptoms are looked upon negatively by women and we want to help encourage them to embrace and take charge of the way their bodies work by offering a flexi-working policy. In turn, we hope that this will help increase productivity, happiness and satisfaction in the workplace.”