For true progress to be made, a workplace must be female-friendly

Addressing gender imbalance and the gender pay gap won’t happen without female-friendly workplaces that acknowledge the specific support women need at different stages in their lives.

Truly progressive companies now recognise the importance of this, and have introduced a plethora of policies that seek to empower women at every stage of their lives – and careers.

“Throughout the course of a woman’s life she may be trying to juggle different milestones or factors happening in her personal life along with her work life,” says Sarah Jane Walsh, HR business partner at the IRFU.

“In the IRFU we are continuously looking for new ways and ideas to support our staff and assist them as best we can and we have introduced policies and initiatives to show them that we are committed to supporting them along the way as best we can,” she explains.

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“Women, like any other group, can face unique challenges and obstacles in the workplace,” says Linda Farrell, senior people manager at media company Distilled. Yet she cautions that policies devised to address this will not always be one-size-fits-all.

“It’s important to recognise that individuals have diverse experiences and needs, and not all women will require the same support.”

Walsh notes that the IRFU have an especially diverse staff – ranging from players to those who work in the game’s administration – and says they are conscious to adapt and amend their policies to suit the specific needs of each group.

These policies include menopause policy, reproductive health-related leave, maternity, adoptive and surrogacy leave – in fact, menopause training is now part of the organisation’s induction training for all. The IRFU was recently a finalist in Ireland’s first ever Menopause Workplace Excellence Awards, a partnership between The Menopause Hub and Great Place to Work.

“Menopause can impact female employees for a substantial period of their working life,” Walsh says. “It is important that we all have an awareness of how menopausal symptoms can pose a challenge for women as they go about their daily lives, including at work and those experiences will vary for each woman.”

As well as a comprehensive employee assistance programme, other family-friendly policies at the IRFU include “first day of school” leave, and additional support for employees experiencing difficult family circumstances. This is in addition to hybrid and flexitime arrangements available to all employees.

But the focus is not only on offering periods of leave, the IRFU also helps employees return, such as women who are coming back from an extended period of leave.

“Staff may be out for periods of time due to various reasons such as illness, returning from maternity leave or a career break,” says Walsh.

“We offer a phased return to work to help them settle back in. We have also introduced external coaching to support our staff members to prepare practically and mentally for returning to work.”

The introduction of flexible working policy/hybrid working policy and family-friendly policies have been warmly welcomed by all staff, she adds.

“We have received many positive comments about how this now gives staff flexibility and makes their lives easier as they try to juggle home and work life.”

Distilled has been recognised as a Great Place to Work for Women for the last three years – they are hoping to make it four in the coming months. Farrell says they have gained this accolade because of a conscious effort to actively listen to employees and deliver progressive policies that support women at every stage of their employee life cycle.

At the company, new parents are given paid leave as well as flexible working hours when transitioning back to work. Distilled also offers fully paid maternity and adoptive leave, as well as two weeks of paid parental and four weeks paid paternity leave.

There is also an allowance for additional leave and support for pregnancy loss, surrogacy and fertility treatment, as well as a comprehensive menopause policy that has garnered the company significant recognition since its introduction in 2019.

Farrell adds that Distilled were the first company in Ireland to introduce a policy to provide for sick leave to be deferred and taken after maternity or adoptive leave, in cases of serious illness such as cancer.

Empowering women in the workplace is more than just offering leave, however. The Distilled women’s network was created in 2019 to facilitate knowledge-sharing, learning and collaboration.

“The DWN is a dynamic and progressive group that has the goal of connecting colleagues from across locations, brands and teams by creating a space where everyone can ask questions and offer practical support,” Farrell explains.

Cpl has been recognised as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces for Women every year since 2020. This is unsurprising, given that women account for almost two-thirds of the workforce at the recruitment company, which also has a leadership team that has a female majority.

“We understand the unique challenges women may face throughout their careers, from motherhood, caregiving, career development, menopause and women’s health,” says Sharon Vize, Cpl group HR director.

“We are committed to supporting women in the workplace, in addition to our policies, practices and procedures we also have unique benefits and initiatives that support our female colleagues in the workplace.”

As well as “menopause cafes”, the firm also runs a “working parents and guardians group” who host cafés on topics such as parental guilt, returning to work, sleep, and self-care as a working parent.

Cpl recently introduced a “balance time” policy, which allows flexible time currency for everyone in the organisation.

“We wanted the policy to be inclusive of everyone in Cpl so whether you are a proud parent, a devoted carer, a committed friend, need time off for sports, religious or cultural event you can use ‘balance time’,” said Vize.

“For us at Cpl, it is not just about supporting women, it’s about supporting all our people.”

In a move that isn’t as common as it could and should be, Cpl introduced free period care across all its offices in 2023.

“We believe that period products are an essential item for people who menstruate and should be as widely available as other essential items such as toilet paper and soap,” notes Vize.

“The introduction of this simple yet impactful change in all our women’s, accessible and unisex bathrooms has contributed to Cpl becoming a more inclusive workplace.”

A particular focus for 2024 is fertility, and Cpl is partnering with Fertility Matters on this issue.

“This partnership will help us to educate and raise awareness on the topic of fertility, as well as developing guidance and support for our people.”