Menstrual leave: The new benefit you may need to attract women

Need a way to attract more women to your workplace? Here’s a novel idea: Offer menstrual leave.

No, we aren’t joking. We’re 100% serious.

Right now, the DOL says 54.8% of the U.S. workforce is female. And more women may be leaving: 53% cite higher stress levels than a year ago and almost half feel burned out, according to Deloitte’s Women @ Work 2022: A Global Outlook.

Employers need ways to grab the female population’s attention. And offering an unconventional benefit like menstrual leave would surely grab anyone with a uterus’s attention.

And while this may seem shocking to most of the world, Japan has had a menstrual leave policy since 1947, and China and South Korea have federalized menstrual leave policies.

Spain has recently joined this band wagon, too, by offering a new law that gives three days of menstrual leave a month for women with severe period pain, several media outlets reported. The new law, which is set to pass, is part of a group of proposals around reproductive health.

PMS is no joke

If you’ve never had a period, you don’t know how debilitating menstrual pain and other symptoms (headaches, digestive discomfort, mood swings, nausea, etc.) can be. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is no joke.

Yet, women feel pressure to suck it up and keep pushing forward, just adding to their stress. It’s not always like this, but when it is, having a day here and there you can take off without feeling guilty about it would be liberating.

In the largest study of its kind, researchers found that “menstrual period symptoms may be linked to nearly nine days of lost productivity every year through presenteeism,” published in BMJ Open.

Menstrual leave gaining momentum

Menstrual leave gives women extra PTO to deal with PMS as part of a company’s benefits package. And it’s gaining traction, according to Ragan’s Workplace Wellness Insider that profiled two New Jersey-based companies that offer the benefit.

Binding Minds Inc. recently implemented a 10-day menstrual leave policy for its employees with a uterus to create a more inclusive and accepting workplace culture.

On its blog, AtliQ Technologies said, “We brought in a new policy at AtliQ where our female staff is now entitled to take up to eight extra leaves throughout the year against their menstrual pain. We understand that men and women are born with different biological needs, with the latter having to face more inconvenience every month.”

Other companies offering menstrual leave benefits are Chani, a tech and media company, and GOG, a gaming company.

While companies are still feeling this new benefit out, offering menstrual leave demonstrates to employees and employment candidates that next level of trust, which can help boost employees’ productivity. Plus, when there is this level of trust and understanding, people want to come to work, and they want to do their very best.

Need top-down support

But to implement a benefit such as this, you must have support from your C-suite executives.

For more information on implementing a menstrual leave benefit, check out DivaCup’s blog post. A Canada-based menstrual cup company, DivaCup offers 12 paid days of period leave a year with no questions asked.

“We’re encouraging people to not feel shame around it,” said Diva founder and CEO Carinne Chambers-Saini. “Diva is a period positive company, and our brand values are rooted in equity and body autonomy, so this fits into that mission and helps destigmatize menstruation.