A new survey by Forth has found that whilst some women required just one day off work due to their period (9%), many more have taken at least two days off work due to period side-effects (20%).
Amongst those who had taken time off, the general consensus was that they did not feel comfortable telling their line-manager the reason for their absence.
Just 27 percent are being honest with management about their periods.
What are the main reasons behind this?
Shockingly, 42 percent of women felt that they would not be taken seriously, 35 percent felt ashamed, and a staggering 12 percent felt that they would not be accepted by their team due to being the only female member of staff.
These reflections of societal stigma were quite even across the board, however, regional data showcased some interesting differences between workplace attitudes.
In Northern Ireland, 63 percent of respondents answered that they did share the reason for their absence with their line manager.
This is mirrored by the South East, where 51 percent of respondents felt comfortable telling management. This is a huge percentage and a stark comparison to regions such as London, wherein only 9 percent of women felt comfortable telling management that they were missing work due to their period.
What are the consequences of these absences due to period side-effects?
Unfortunately, for many women that were forced to miss work due to period side-effects, there were negative repercussions for their absence.
The 60 percent of women that had missed work confirmed that they had a disciplinary hearing due to their time off, with an outrageous 51 percent responding that they had lost their job due to period-related time off.
Interestingly, when looking at the regional data for this question, Northern Ireland had the highest percentage for disciplinary hearings (94%), but the second-lowest percentage of women that had lost their job (13%).
The figures for London are alarming, showing that whilst only 33 percent of women had a disciplinary hearing, 58 percent lost their jobs.
This means that, for many of those 58 percent, they were fired without having a chance to explain their absences.
Speaking on the drastic regional differences in attitude, Sarah Bolt, CEO at Forth said: “We were surprised as well, actually, to see such a difference in where in the country women felt that they were supported in the workplace. It’s a shame that so many women weren’t open about their time off work. Women shouldn’t be made to feel ashamed about a natural bodily process”
Amelia Brand is the Editor for HRreview, and host of the HR in Review podcast series. With a Master’s degree in Legal and Political Theory, her particular interests within HR include employment law, DE&I, and wellbeing within the workplace. Prior to working with HRreview, Amelia was Sub-Editor of a magazine, and Editor of the Environmental Justice Project at University College London, writing and overseeing articles into UCL’s weekly newsletter. Her previous academic work has focused on philosophy, politics and law, with a special focus on how artificial intelligence will feature in the future.
