Friends,

It’s been nice having a full week back at home, and the weather has been distracting to say the least. Warm, sunny days, blue skies, and I write this having seen dolphins during my beach walk this morning.

It’s a nice contrast to what has been a hectic week. I think I’ve had four distinct conversations with four different companies, all telling me that everybody feels like it’s April already the holiday break felt shorter than normal.

I hope you’re doing what you need to, to ensure your own wellbeing, and are putting the systems and practices in place to protect yourself, your focus and your work.

Speaking of which — I’m excited for this week’s edition.

I’m a guy in a profession predominantly made up of women, and yet I know surprisingly little about the issues that effect a large chunk of my colleagues — and at least half the workforce.

So I was delighted to step into this topic, and to learn about the impact the menstrual cycle has on many, and what individuals and workplaces can do to better support themselves in what is an altogether under-discussed fact of life.

Enjoy ✌️

Matt

In case you’re new here (or just missed it) here’s the past three editions of the FNDN Series:

Spreadsheets, workflows, and rule-based triggers work when everything follows the plan.

But People teams operate in constant change: managers disengage, tasks stall, messages go un-actioned, and static systems can't see when everything goes quiet.

Pyn is building the shift.

Not just smarter workflows, but adaptive systems that detect signals in real time and act on them. It means HR stops managing every process, and starts managing the systems and agents that run them.

It's the move from mapped workflows to intelligent operations.

From automation that saves time to AI that adapts when reality deviates from the plan.

If you believe HR systems should evolve as quickly as the companies they support, this is where it's headed.

Interested in sponsoring the FNDN Series?

Know a startup Head of People looking for answers 🙋 why not forward this to them for some instant karma? ✨

This edition is based on the latest episode of the FNDN Series podcast, with Carmen Amador Barreiro.

Carmen Amador Barreiro is a Spanish–Dutch Business Psychologist, Womb Healing Practitioner, Speaker, and Founder of The Cycle Method — an educational tool and program transforming the menstrual cycle from something taboo and hidden into a powerful source of wellbeing, clarity and leadership. Her work has been featured in Stylist Magazine and is trusted by companies like LinkedIn, Soho House, The Social Hub and many more around the world.

In 2023, Spain became the first country in the world to introduce menstrual leave — two to three days per month, legally protected.

It was landmark legislation. Progressive. Bold.

And virtually no one uses it.

The taboo is still so deeply embedded that even when the policy exists, the culture hasn't caught up. As Carmen Amador (business psychologist and founder of The Cycle Method) put it when we spoke on the podcast: "the policy shifted way before the culture did."

This matters because the problem is real.

A nationwide study of over 32,000 women found that nearly 14% reported missing work due to menstrual symptoms — and that's just the ones who actually called in sick.

The bigger number? Over 80% reported decreased productivity while at work, averaging 23 days per year of reduced output.

For every person who stays home, more are powering through brain fog, fatigue, pain, and emotional dysregulation at their desks.

The cost isn't measured solely by sick days. It's in presenteeism, burnout, and attrition.

Carmen's own story drives this home. She visited over 80 doctors across her health journey, most of whom had zero specific menstrual health training.

The consistent response was: "just go back on the pill" or "you're just someone who has painful periods." Invalidating Carmen’s experience, and attempting to normalise something that shouldn’t be.

She refused to accept that — and eventually healed herself by understanding and working with her cycle, not against it.

But the fact that it took 80+ medical professionals to get there tells you everything about how systemically overlooked women’s health still is.

So if leave policies don't work on their own, what does?

The essential change in perspective that follows should redefine your understanding of this.

Carmen said something that really stood out to me: "the body comes to the workplace." 

We design work around the assumption that people deliver consistent output, consistent energy, consistent focus — every single day. But roughly half the workforce operates on a monthly hormonal rhythm that directly impacts energy, cognition, communication, and stress tolerance.

The menstrual cycle has four distinct phases, or personas, each with different strengths, which Carmen names after distinct C-Suite persona’s:

The competitive advantage here is obvious. 

Companies that understand cyclical capacity can optimise how work gets allocated. Not rigidly (life doesn't work that way), but directionally, matching energy to task type where possible. 

The result is better work quality and less burnout. 

Not because you're doing less, but because you're doing the right things at the right times.

The alternative, "power through it" culture, just quietly drives talented women out of the workplace. And we wonder why women are twice as likely to burn out at work.

The companies getting this right aren't starting with policy. They're starting with something much simpler.

Start with education, not policy. 

Carmen runs workshops in companies where everyone is in the room (not just women). This matters. 

The conversations about menstrual health have historically been gendered, happening only in women's spaces. But as Carmen puts it, to really move the needle, everyone needs to be involved. 

The men who attend her sessions consistently say the same thing afterwards: "I had no idea this was all happening." 

You don't need clinical language either. Carmen suggests using frameworks that teams already know (like mapping the cycle to agile methodology, or simply using the seasons: winter, spring, summer, autumn) to make it accessible. 

The goal is establishing psychological safety and shared understanding, before you ever ask anyone to disclose anything.

Canva is a great example here. Their leave policy is essentially: just leave. 

No labels. No categories. No explanations. 

It could be menstrual, mental health, bereavement — it doesn't matter. 

This works because it removes stigma and applies equally to everyone. Flexible work that accommodates cyclical needs without forcing anyone to out themselves.

Encourage employees to track their own patterns, building on and using the four cycle model.

Recommend resources like cycle tracking apps and educational materials, and let individuals communicate their needs on their own terms.

The mistake to avoid: making any of this mandatory or forcing disclosure. This is about normalising support people can opt into, not a mandate.

Managers don't need to understand hormones. They need to understand flexibility and trust. 

Carmen's workshops consistently produce the same reaction from male attendees: "I had no idea." That moment of realisation — not a policy or a procedure — is where real change can begin.

Awareness creates space, and space lets people decide for themselves what they share and when.

Build a culture where "no explanation needed" is the default for adjusting how and when work gets done.

Don't just track policy utilisation (that's how you end up like Spain). 

Track retention of women, engagement scores, sick leave trends, and performance quality over time. 

The ROI calculation isn't complicated: compare the cost of presenteeism, recruitment from attrition, and untreated health conditions against the cost of a few workshops and some flexible work norms. It's not even close.

Start with conversation, not policy. Build culture, then embed it. Give people control over their work, not a system that makes them earn it. The companies winning here aren't doing anything radical — they're just treating humans like humans.

As Carmen put it: "It's still very much a taboo topic and we need to speak about it." She's right. And if you're a Head of People reading this, you don't need to become a menstrual health expert to start. You just need to open the door.

If you enjoyed this post or know someone who may find it useful, please share it with them and encourage them to subscribe.

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