Menstrual health continues to be a taboo topic at work. HR can help change that.

We’ll spare you from a cheeky one-liner about periods…

Roughly 1.8 million people worldwide menstruate each month, and 10% experience period pain that prevents them from performing daily activities for one to three days.

Many companies have expanded their leave policies in recent years to include time off for menstruation, HR Brew previously reported in 2022, and some countries have passed legislation to ensure menstruation leave access.

Yet stocking free period products in work bathrooms and discussing periods openly mostly remains taboo.

Impact on workers. Most companies (63%) don’t offer employees free period products, according to a recent report from Reproductive and Maternal Health Compass (RMH Compass). Using two years worth of data, none of the companies reviewed in the research mention “menstrual health” in their policies, despite 25% offering other reproductive health benefits, like fertility and prenatal care.

“There’s so much talk about fertility benefits and super complex things, and this is just basic stuff…There’s free toilet paper in every restroom, so why wouldn’t there be free period products as well?” Flory Wilson, founder and CEO of RMH Compass, told HR Brew.

Also, only one-fifth of menstruating people feel comfortable talking about these health needs with their manager, the RMH Compass report found.

“There’s just so much silence around menstrual health and menstrual needs,” Wilson said. “I laugh when I think back on myself in my 20s. I would sneak through the office with my tampon buried clutched in my hand. It was embarrassing.”

What HR needs to know. Many leaders don’t menstruate, Claire Coder, founder and CEO of period product supplier Aunt Flow, told HR Brew. So, she said, it may not occur to them to offer period products in bathrooms. HR can educate them about why period products are “a necessity versus an amenity.”

“Especially as organizations are bringing people back to the office, we view period care as a basic, fundamental necessity,” she said. “If organizations are thinking about bringing folks back to the office, or requiring it, this needs to be offered, and right now, less than half of employers are offering it, based on the research from RMH, and that needs to change.”

Wilson recommended HR pros start by explicitly adding menstrual leave to their company’s sick leave policies.

“It gives the worker cover. I know if I’m using this leave for this purpose, this is an approved or qualified event,” she said. “It also gives that manager, whether they’re a woman or a man, the clarity to understand this is an approved leave benefit.”

Even at companies that provide period products, Wilson said she’s seen discrepancies in availability across facilities. Period products may be available in corporate offices, but not in warehouses. She said she’s also seen this issue with lactation rooms for nursing parents.

“There is a need, for HR from its benefits and policies perspective, to be collaborating more closely with facilities,” she said. “What happens is it’s inconsistent, and then you’ve got equity issues and access issues, and unintentionally. People are always like, ‘We have an intention that this is something everyone should have. We just aren’t sure if everyone does have it.’”