a Toulouse start-up gives women a day off during their period

Since the beginning of March, the start-up Louis, based in Labège in the Toulouse conurbation, gives its eight employees the possibility of taking an additional day off per month, if they wish, when they have their period.

The idea is slowly making its way into the business world. Last year, a Montpellier company experimented with this menstrual leave for the first time in France.

The Toulouse start-up Louis, which has 17 employees, including eight women, specializes in the manufacture of furniture in blois. Margot, one of the employees, sometimes carries more than a ton a day. “When we have our periods, we are weaker, the efficiency is not at all there“, she explains.

“It’s psychologically reassuring to have support from the boss and colleagues.”

Margot, employee of the Louis company

franceinfo

The idea of ​​setting up a menstrual leave then quickly presented itself as obvious. After receiving the green light from management, we had to convince all of the company’s employees. It was Manu, cabinetmaker and staff representative, who worked on it: “We set up a period talk to make it clear that it was not a whim and that there are good reasons to give women this day off during their period“, he says.

The men of the company did not hesitate for a second. An employee admits that it is not something he had thought about on his own: “But when we talked, I found it natural. I even find it odd that a lot of other companies haven’t thought of it before.“Another employee advances:”Me, I don’t have a problem every month that prevents me from working. For a question of fairness, I find it normal that women can rest during their periods.”

“This menstrual leave, it’s reassuring“, assures Margot. “To tell ourselves that we can go home, rest, no longer carry heavy loads, it feels good.“For his part, the founder of the company Thomas Devineaux, assures that he does not see it as an additional burden:”For us, it’s not a sacrifice at all. The idea is just to work in the best possible conditions and concretely to improve well-being at work.“

>> Menstrual leave, set up by a company in Montpellier, is “a false good idea”, according to Osez le féminisme

Other companies have shown interest in this practice. According to Louis’s management, companies in Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux are asking him today to eventually establish a similar model.