When we get our period, there’s a plethora of ways it can affect our lives. The changes in our moods may affect our relationships, shifts in our energy may impact how much we want to work out, or even get up off the sofa. But it also can affect our day-to-day working lives, and the long-term path of our careers.

According to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 69% of women feel that their period has a negative impact on their work, with 61% working when they don’t feel well enough. 70% reported feeling more tired and 63% said they felt less able to concentrate.

A small study by hormonal health company Mira found that employees who menstruate feel twice as productive at work during their ovulation days. So why is this?

“During ovulation, hormonal changes, particularly increased levels of oestrogen, can enhance mood, energy, and cognitive function, leading to a sense of heightened productivity,” women’s health expert Valentina Milanova explains, adding that there are ways that we can harness this knowledge to benefit our work schedules.

“This is also the time when we have the highest levels of confidence and the highest levels of wanting to be social. During the ovulation period is a great time to have challenging work conversations, schedule board meetings, or ask for a promotion.”

But on the flip side, there are also stages of the menstrual cycle where we have lower energy levels, potentially affecting productivity. The luteal phase, the stage after ovulation and before menstruation may “lead to fatigue and mood changes” due to rising progesterone levels, according to Valentina, as well as the follicular phase, which occurs in preparation for ovulation.

In other words, optimum conditions for how we work could change quite quickly throughout our menstrual cycle. “Menstrual cycles can impact concentration, energy levels, and emotional wellbeing, with symptoms like cramps and mood fluctuations affecting overall productivity,” Valentina explains. “The British Medical Journal states that we lose 9-12 productive days per year due to period pain and other PMS symptoms."

Taking employees’ menstrual cycle into consideration is crucial in making a workplace as inclusive and productive as possible. Above all, what needs to change is the environment provided for people who menstruate – in order to level the playing field. “This doesn't mean that women are less productive than men, but that we need a different kind of environment in order to thrive,” Valentina says. After all, menstruation affects roughly half the workplace, so it’s crucial that workplaces take this into account.

While at present, there is no UK law in place that requires employers to give employees menstrual leave, workplaces would do well to make space for any flexibility they can around employees’ menstrual cycles. Valentina advises that there are multiple ways to implement this flexibility, including “flexible working hours, remote work options, and the ability to take short breaks as needed, fostering a supportive environment for discussing individual needs”.

Psychotherapist and careers coach Eloise Allexia agrees, advocating for workplaces “allowing employees to have the autonomy to structure their own workload”, so that they can work at a pace that fits the stage of their menstrual cycle. “This might mean, for example, allowing employees to move faster on projects or deliverables at certain times of the month, while permitting a slower pace at others,” she says, adding that this approach can and should be applied to work presentations, meetings and networking events.

“Flexible strategies will enable team members to feel engaged with their work and can reduce absenteeism,” Valentina explains, adding that shifts in workplace culture through “encouraging open dialogue about menstrual health” and providing wellness resources that educate about the menstrual cycle and more are both crucial. “Workplaces can provide gynaecological health and women's health education for both sexes in order to normalise the vaginal, menstrual and hormonal health experience,” she says, stressing the importance of workplaces “taking a bigger and more prominent role in supporting gynaecological health”, seeing as the vast majority of the these gynaecological experiences, from periods to pregnancy and menopause, take place while people who menstruate work.

And the support mustn’t stop with making space for the different stages of women’s menstrual cycles. Women's health expert and gynaecologist Anna Targonskaya advises that hormonal conditions like endometriosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) – of which 10% of women worldwide and 8-13% of women suffer from, respectively – “can have an impact on career progression, particularly if the workplace does not have any processes in place to support women, such as flexible working”.

“With around 20% of women suffering from hormone conditions during reproductive years and much more during the transition to menopause, it is vital for workplaces to have inclusive and supportive policies in place that make women feel supported at work, and enable them to thrive in their careers,” Anna says.

So it’s never been more important for workplaces to give flexibility around and educate about menstruation and other hormonal conditions, from the productivity highs and lows that come with our menstrual cycles day to day, to the roadblocks that come with menopause. Women’s empowerment and advancement in the workplace depends upon it.