Time to Talk Periods and Work

If you’re a person with periods you know that menstruating can negatively impact your work life. Whether through mishaps like getting caught at the office without a needed tampon or suffering debilitating cramps, headaches, tiredness or heavy bleeding that make productivity impossible, menstruating people have pretty much all faced days and even weeks when a period set them back at the office. In fact around 80% of people who menstruate experience decreased productivity due to menstrual-related symptoms, some so severe that they need to take a day off work.

But typically that suffering happens in silence, because you probably feel that period talk is a no-go in a professional setting. That’s why Nurx is excited to support for a campaign launched this week by the popular period tracker Flo Health. Flo’s goal is to normalize the topic of periods in the workplace by encouraging companies to add four period-specific emojis to their company Slack spaces, to give people permission and a means of communication to share when menstruation may be impacting their work.

Nurx has added these emojis to our corporate Slack and shared out the Flo guide on how to communicate about periods in the workplace, if they choose.

This is what four new emojis (which you can see above) mean:

• • On My Period: The iconic blood drop emoji, that can be used to disclose that someone is on their period, and may want to take things a little slower than usual (without having to verbally say anything).
  • Not my Day: A happy and sad emoji intertwined really signifies the range of emotions one can experience while on their period (especially the moody PMS part of it:))
  • Camera Off: There are many reasons why someone may need to turn their camera off. This universal emoji is a clear sign to participants that the user should not be expected to join via camera and that’s okay!
  • In Pain: A signifier to coworkers that the individual is experiencing pain as a result of their period.

   

  As Nurx VP of People Lori Medeiros said in Flo’s announcement: “De-stigmatizing personal health has always been central to the Nurx mission, and we are proud to join Flo in helping to normalize periods. It’s important that our people feel they can bring their whole selves to the workplace, and the ability to be open about periods facilitates that.”If you work at a company that may be interested in joining this movement, you can download the emojis and the guide here.