A firm in England is rolling out a new “period policy” in which female staffers get time off during their painful monthly cycle.

The goal is to plug into the “natural rhythms” of women to increase productivity, said Bex Baxter, director of Coexist, non-profit focused on education.

“I have managed many female members of staff over the years and I have seen women at work who are bent over double because of the pain caused by their periods,” director Bex Baxter, 40, told the Bristol Post.

“Despite this, they feel they cannot go home because they do not [consider] themselves as unwell. And this is unfair,” she said.

Women at the firm are entitled to paid leave if they’re in pain during their period without claiming to be sick — a policy that already exists at some Japanese companies.

Women are three times more productive immediately after a period, Baxter claimed.

Allowing workers time off can actually make them more productive, she said.

“There is a misconception that taking time off makes a business unproductive – actually it is about synchronizing work with the natural cycles of the body.

Bex added, “ If it were men who had periods then this policy would have been brought in sooner.”