Image: GOG
Digital storefront GOG, formerly known as Good Old Games, recently announced that it will offer its employees menstrual leave, allowing anyone suffering from excessive dysmenorrhea or other complications to take extra time off. It makes the studio one of the first in the gaming industry to offer such benefits to its employees. Its parent company, CD Projekt Red, is also considering offering a similar vacation option.
as originally discovered Love News, the Poland-based company announced on LinkedIn on April 1 that it will begin offering all affected employees additional paid time off. A GOG spokesperson told Love News They estimate that for employees who take advantage of the furlough, that’s the equivalent of an extra day per quarter. But also told the media that “whenever menstrual pain occurs”, staff are free to take time off. Employees can also choose to take only a few hours off instead of a full day.
“Menstrual Leave Promotes Inclusion by Accepting Biological Differences in the Workplace,” Gog wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the new plans. “By offering people with menstrual pain extra days off, we’re acknowledging that these symptoms are real.”
Implementing menstrual leave is another step in making GOG a more inclusive workplace, and we won’t stop striving to learn, reflect, and improve on how to do better for all team members.
Gabriela Siemienkowicz, GOG’s culture and communications manager told Love News The new policy is “experimental” and the company will assess how these additional furloughs “affect the well-being of GOG employees” throughout 2022. After that, storefronts will likely “expand the policy” next year, although there are no details on what that might entail.
small house GOG has been contacted for comment.
Siemienkowicz also told Love News The policy was inspired by her own experience, bringing up the topic at a Women at GOG conference and discovering that other employees had similar stories and experiences.
“We have the same view on this issue,” Siemienkowicz said. “And want to be able to simply lie down and rest most of the time without sacrificing one of the regular paid absence days we have available throughout the year.”
GOG’s parent company CD Projekt Red told computer gamer It is also considering a similar policy in the future.
