The HeyFlow Business Case
If you’re reading this you either need a little bit more convincing of why reproductive health inclusion in the workplace matters, or you’re trying to equip yourself with all the information you might need to go to someone who does.
As much as we’d love to rest on the laurel of ‘being an inclusive employer is a good thing to do’, we also understand that at the end of the day, we’re talking to businesses and sometimes you need some further reasoning to understand how it positively affects the bottom line.
So let’s get into it.
Why should a business invest in reproductive health inclusion?
It leads to better team
morale and productivity
Acknowledging the challenges reproductive health can create in the workplace, and providing flexibility allows employees to balance their responsibilities effectively, and as a result, they can focus on their tasks, leading to increased productivity and overall performance.
It futureproofs the business
With employee retention being a key issue for many businesses, making your employees feel valued and supported means they are more likely to stay with the company long-term, reducing turnover costs and preserving institutional knowledge.
It helps close the gender
pay gap
There is no coincidence that the gender pay gap significantly increases around the same time people tend to become parents, and again at menopause. If business leaders are serious about closing the gender pay gap, they need to address the role that reproductive health plays and creating a more supportive environment is the only way to close it.
It’s simply a good look
Businesses that actively advocate and support employees and encourage a more even work-life balance project a positive brand image. This makes them a more attractive option for potential future candidates, clients, and partners where family-friendly policies and values are becoming a higher priority.
Why do we focus on reproductive health to tackle gender equity?
Because frankly, it directly affects it.
Above is a graph of the gender pay gap across age, as you can see, there are two major spikes around age 30, and then again at 50. (Source: ONS, 2022)
In other words, parenthood and then again at menopause.
390,000 working mums experience negative and potentially discriminatory treatment at work each year
Why are mothers (and parents)
leaving companies?
Lack of flexibility and part-time options means that the rising costs of childcare become a major outgoing factor and become financially unviable in the long run.
Poor communication during maternity leave makes new mothers feel excluded from the company and less positive about their return.
Poorly managed return-to-work experiences mean that employees aren’t properly re-onboarded, which can lead to lower confidence in their abilities and position in their current role.
Lack of parent-inclusive environment after initial leave puts a greater strain on work-life balance, leading to increased stress and chance of burnout.
73% of women say that employers are not doing enough to support employees at work during menopause
Why are people leaving companies during menopause?
Lack of flexibility to deal with symptoms effectively means that it quickly becomes an invisible barrier to feeling connected and included at work.
A reduction in confidence (one of the symptoms of menopause) being exacerbated by co-workers' lack empathy of for the effects and impact of menopause.
Having to deal with menopausal symptoms within a generalised health policy means that often people don’t access the help they need as they don’t feel they are ‘sick’ which leads to worsened symptoms.
A quarter of women regularly experience period pains that affect their ability to work
— YouGov
But what about menstruation / fertility / post-partum / invisible illnesses / everything else when it comes to reproductive health?
Essentially the main reason why your business should care about reproductive health in the workplace is because reproductive health continues to happen in the workplace.
Someone’s period doesn’t immediately stop once they clock in. Someone with endometriosis will likely be in pain at their desk. Someone going through intense IVF treatment is still going to be feeling the effects when they’re in a meeting.
The problem is, they’re probably not talking about it.
Why not?
If something is chronic or regular, then there is the feeling of not wanting to ‘waste a sick day’ on it.
Fears around it being reflected in performance reviews and affecting their progression.
General feelings that it’s not an appropriate topic ‘for the workplace’.
Opening up the conversation around reproductive health increases the chances that employees will build trust and allow them to talk about what is affecting them at work, meaning that they can focus on their role better, which is a win-win really.
What’s the cost of hiring someone new?
“Ok, so if people leave, we can always replace them with someone else. What’s the big deal?”
Sure.
Not only is that quite a horrible thing to say and treating actual people as dispensable, it also is incredibly damaging to a business’s bottom line.
On average the cost of replacing a salaried employee is somewhere between 6-9 months of their annual wage.
So, if we’re talking middle management and higher, that is a significant cost.
Not only that there is the loss of skills, and knowledge about the business, and the larger impact on retention as a whole because of the damage it will have to a company’s culture as higher turnover rates lead to greater dissatisfaction in the team, and therefore higher turnover.
But we have good policies in place, do we need to bother?
Here’s a little secret… this is exactly why HeyFlow exists.
We have found that even in the most progressive companies, with the most progressive policies, there can often be a gap between policy and lived experience.
If policy isn’t embedded into a company’s culture and managers aren’t trained on how to execute policy effectively, a progressive policy can almost be more damaging than a less progressive one.
It’s like seeing what you could have, but not receiving it. Which is frustrating.
HeyFlow acts as a third party to understand the felt sense of your workforce in relation to current policy to identify the gaps and then close them through facilitated workshops designed to open conversation and break the taboo around reproductive health.
Working with HeyFlow is a commitment to the long game.
The problems that HeyFlow is tackling are deeply entrenched within ways of working and although change isn’t going to be instant, addressing reproductive health as a barrier to gender equity in the workplace will see more senior female leadership.
More female leaders mean more role models for the next generation, which means more female leaders.