As a major step towards equality in the workplace (both within the gaming industry and outside), GOG recently announced that it has started offering menstrual leave to its employees. This means that “every time menstrual cramps occur”, affected employees can take as much time as necessary from work to recover.
The menstrual holidays will be fully paid out, where GOG assesses that it will mean that affected employees take an extra day off per. quarter.
GOG is a subsidiary of the Polish game developer and publisher CD Projekt, of The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077 fame / infamy. After GOG’s announcement, I contacted CD Projekt PR director Radek Grabowski to ask if the menstrual leave initiative could also include the parent company, which has a total of around 1124 employees. He replied: “GOG is at the forefront of this initiative, and we are taking a closer look at it for the entire CD Project.”
So all is well, we could see the progressive policy being standardized in one of the most famous gaming companies in the world leading by example for others to do the same. As things stand, menstrual leave is almost unheard of in both video games and other companies, and the only countries that currently have any form of national menstrual leave are Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Zambia.
The initiative to implement menstrual leave was led by GOG Culture and Communications Director Gabriela Siemienkowicz, who told Axios that the new policy “fosters inclusiveness by accepting that there are biological differences in the workplace … by providing such extra days off, we recognize these symptoms are genuine. “
Siemienkowicz added: “I can only hope that this policy will serve as a sign that GOG is an inclusive company that respects the individual needs of its employees and that everyone can feel both safe and valued here.”