A Forward-Thinking Workplace – Why Your Business Should Have a Menstrual Policy in Place 

Over the past couple of months, reports from Spain have suggested they are putting plans into place to introduce between 3-5 days of medical leave for females when they suffer from painful periods. So now people have started to speculate – if Spain goes ahead with this plan, will other countries follow suit? 

In this blog, we will uncover why we feel menstrual leave is important and what you can be doing as an employer to support your employees. 

The Importance of Menstrual Leave 

As not everyone menstruates, this puts the employees that do at a disadvantage due to a health issue. If this issue is continuously ignored this could even amount to sex discrimination or harassment case. This isn’t uncommon within the workplace either, here you can read about a female employee being negatively treated due to going through menopause.  

Moreover, the same considerations must be applied to those who suffer painful periods and who need time off to manage this. 

But is leave necessary? 

We believe the answer is yes, but our advice is to tread carefully. 

Acknowledging that menstrual pain can be temporarily debilitating but a ‘straight from the book’ menstrual policy could downplay chronic conditions such as endometriosis. It’s important to understand that endometriosis is connected to menstruation, but it is a unique and specific condition that can seriously affect those who live with it. 

Will a nationwide menstrual leave policy be introduced? 

Female health issues have been under the spotlight for some time now with numerous reports and task forces being formed to focus on support for menopausal females (Woman’s Health Strategy and Menopause Taskforce). In the future, these actions could leave to reform on leave entitlement for female health issues. 

However, is this likely to happen soon? Probably not, but this doesn’t mean you need to wait. 

What can you do now? 

There are numerous things you can do to help employees who are affected by menstrual pains. 

In the first instance, you could introduce a contractual entitlement for menstrual leave which will help alleviate this issue. This can help solve female employees with menstrual pain issues, but you can also introduce measures to support them to continue to work. 

Hybrid working and flexi-hours for employees struggling with menstrual pain create a way in which your employees can remain comfortable without the fear of losing out on pay or missing important work projects. 

Moreover, creating a workplace culture of open communication allows employees to reach out to their employers if they are struggling. By doing this the employee, together with their employer, will be able to tailor an arrangement that can take away any discomfort and pain they experience.  

Making these small adjustments to create an environment where health discussions are welcomed enriches a win-win solution for all parties involved. 

If you need help setting out a menstrual policy in your workplace, get in touch with us here or email us at hello@tercushr.co.uk.