Should companies consider women’s health as a subject in itself, to better adapt to the difficulties they encounter? This is the opinion of Florence Chappert, head of the integrated equality mission at the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Anact): “A gendered approach to the question of working conditions makes it possible to understand that women are not better protected than men. If women have four or five more days of absenteeism per year than men, this is not only explained by children, but also by specific constraints, which expose them to financial consequences, the loss of a employment or isolation from the collective. »
It is with this observation that this health specialist opened the HR meetings on February 7 – the monthly HR news meeting organized by The world in partnership with ManpowerGroup Talent Solutions and Malakoff Humanis −, which brought together around ten HR managers in Paris and remotely.
This inventory is the result of recent research, which has made it possible to highlight professional risks, long underestimated by public policies and businesses, that women specifically experience in the context of their work. Between 2001 and 2019, the number of workplace accidents increased by 41.6% for women, while it fell by 27.2% for men.
When it comes to raising awareness of occupational health issues specific to women, HR managers spontaneously mention endometriosis, a chronic disease with no cure which exclusively affects those of childbearing age, and concerns nearly 10% of them. During crises that certain employees may experience, managers must be more tolerant of short-term absences during working hours, which should not be confused with work stoppage.
Raise awareness about existing pathologies
On chronic illnesses, the National Old Age Insurance Fund (CNAV) says it uses teleworking as a lever to allow employees to breathe, and more generally flexibility in working time. For its part, Malakoff Humanis has recently granted five additional days of occasional teleworking to women with endometriosis – bringing the ceiling to twenty days – or five days of paid absence authorized per year, for those who cannot telework.
On this subject, the General Directorate of Labor and Anact will soon publish a guide for managers and HR. The challenge remains above all to raise awareness of existing pathologies, to better make them visible in the company. “It is in health that we see the true values of a company: how it manages prevention, does it provide salary supplements to compensate for waiting days during sick leave by example “considers Laurence Breton-Kueny, HR director of the Afnor group and vice-president of the national association of HR managers.
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