Under the new employee benefit, those who need it will not need to provide a medical certificate or doctor’s note, nor do they need to specify the reason they are taking the leave. Any requests for the Mental Health / Menstruation Leave employee benefit will be granted upon receipt.

"At Feedzai, we want to foster a more inclusive and safe working environment, ensuring we meet our employees’ needs and give them the conditions they need to thrive and be successful. We are implementing this new leave benefit because we recognize that some of our employees may be suffering from symptoms related to either their mental health, PMS, menstruation, or menopause that can impact their ability to work," said Dalia Turner, VP of People at Feedzai.

"We also know that mental health and menstruation can be uncomfortable to talk about or even taboo in the workplace, and it is important to raise awareness of these topics and ensure that our employees know that we will support them should it be needed. In conjunction with this benefit, we are training our managers, and providing them with the information they need to better support their teams. By implementing this benefit, we want to start the conversation, to remove the stigma and ensure our employees know that these topics are nothing to be ashamed of."

The impact of conditions affecting mental health, menstruation, or menopause symptoms

According to Harvard Business Review, half of Millennials and 75% of Gen Zers had left roles in the past for mental health reasons, both voluntarily and involuntarily, compared with 34% of respondents overall.

Whilst, between 15-25% of people with periods endure from moderate to severe menstrual cramps that can affect their ability to work. Additionally, in the US, 11% of people who menstruate suffer from endometriosis, while 20% have dysmenorrhea, which are menstrual disorders that can have a dire effect on everyday life and cause worse symptoms and discomfort throughout the menstrual cycle.

As such, Feedzai will be introducing training for managers to improve education and awareness, which will help them better support their teams and be aware of the diverse issues that don’t impact everyone in the same way.

The company had already introduced the four-day work week in August 2021 with the aim of promoting well-being and work life balance among the more than 600 employees worldwide.