We've all put a tampon up our sleeve
Happy Hump Day {{first_name | Toaster}} 🐪 ,
There is a very specific kind of office choreography that happens when you’re on your period. You grab a tampon, look around, tuck it into your sleeve, and walk to the bathroom. God forbid someone sees the tampon.
For something that happens to roughly half the population, menstruation has somehow become a workplace secret. We whisper about cramps, quietly stock our desk drawers, and sometimes use a sick day because our uterus has decided it would like to betray us on a random afternoon.
Research from the CIPD found that 69% of women who experience menstrual symptoms reported that those symptoms had negatively affected them at work. More than half had been unable to go into work at some point because of their symptoms. And nearly half said they never tell their manager when an absence is related to their menstrual cycle.
Most workplaces aren't exactly designed around the reality of having a body. The office itself consists of freezing temperatures, long meetings with no bathroom breaks, and workplaces designed around the assumption that everyone can operate at full capacity all day, all month, with no bodily interruptions.
Another workplace absurdity is using sick days for something that happens once a month. A 2023 CIPD survey found that paid sick leave was one of the forms of menstrual support employees valued, alongside free period products and time off for medical appointments. Flexible working and additional breaks were also highly valued, yet fewer than one in ten respondents had access to either.
The goal isn't to make every workplace conversation about periods nor is it to make anyone announce their cycle to their manager. It’s much simpler:
Have products available (Since 2023, federally regulated Canadian employers have been required to provide menstrual products at no cost in workplace toilet rooms). By the way, our friends at joni will be at the Toast Summit giving out product samples and stocking the bathrooms.
Maybe instead of creating a special category of “period days,” we just need more room for the miscellaneous, don’t-ask-too-many-questions days. Periods happen and so do migraines, mental health days, a terrible nights sleep, or your children getting sick but not you. Maybe work can make room for all of it.
And sometimes, people don't need the day off. They just need to work from home. Even if you're not a fully remote company, allowing the occasional WFH day can make a huge difference. Sometimes women absolutely work through their period, they need a heating pad, sweatpants, and their own bathroom nearby.
We don't need workplaces built around perfect bodies, perfect energy and perfect attendance. We need workplaces that leave a little room for being human, and a little less pretending that everyone is operating at 100% all the time.
Team Toast 🥂
Open Roles 🥖
We have a cornucopia of open roles in tech just waiting for you to apply. Resume isn't up to snuff? Don't worry - we don't use resumes! Simply submit what you have. Or jump into our talent pool for general consideration 🤿
New roles this week
Upcoming Events 🗓️
Tired of tech conferences that are just a bro-flex fests? Good news: The Toast Summit is nothing like that.
The Toast Summit is made for women in tech, by women in tech. Four years in, we've built a community that's not waiting around for the future of tech to include us, we're shaping it.
This year's theme, Shaping the Future of Tech, is exactly that: dream bigger, build smarter, and help design what comes next. Because women can’t change the system unless we are in it.
📍Platform Calgary
🗓️ October 1, 2026
⏰ 8:30am - 6:00pm
Community Partner 🤝
Here’s a question: why is toilet paper considered basic workplace infrastructure, but period care still isn’t? joni is a woman-led Canadian company working to change that.
We make better period care, from pads and tampons to leakproof underwear, but we’re also thinking bigger. We’re building the infrastructure that makes period care easier to access everywhere people work, learn and gather.
That includes smart dispensing technology that helps organizations across Canada provide period care at scale, with real-time inventory insights that take the guesswork (and unnecessary washroom checks) out of keeping products stocked.
Because equity isn’t just a value you put on a website. Sometimes, it’s a product on the wall exactly when someone needs it.
And access shouldn’t stop at the workplace. Every joni purchase supports menstrual equity, and since 2020, we’ve donated more than one million period care products.
One more thing worth trying: joni’s new Leakproof Period Underwear. Made with a 100% merino wool lining, it’s breathable, moisture-managing, odour-resistant—and genuinely comfortable.
TOAST community: use code TOAST15 for 15% off consumer products
