From April 2025, BIPA will be providing all employees throughout Austria with vouchers for free period products. In addition to providing financial support, BIPA wants to use this measure to stimulate dialogue on the topic of menstruation and other women-specific issues.
BIPA is responding to a clear wish from the workforce: an internal survey has shown that more than three quarters of respondents would welcome employer support for the cost of period products. The measure is not only intended to provide financial relief, but also to send a clear signal for the removal of taboos surrounding menstruation in the workplace.
Promoting health and well-being
Over 90 per cent of the employees surveyed are very interested in topics relating to women's health, and just as many consider free tampons and pads to be important or very important in terms of promoting health and well-being. As a company with 98 per cent women in the workforce, BIPA would therefore also like to create more space for the topic internally - including through financial support for period products.
Quarterly supplies of pads and tampons can be collected free of charge from BIPA shops.
From April 2025, all employees throughout Austria will receive a voucher four times a year with which they can pick up a quarterly supply of BIPA brand BI COMFORT pads or tampons free of charge in all BIPA shops.
The vouchers, which are issued to BIPA employees, can be used to pick up a quarterly supply of BI COMFORT pads or BI COMFORT tampons in various strengths and sizes free of charge in all of the approximately 600 BIPA shops throughout Austria. The voucher can also be passed on to family members.
BIPA has been working with the City of Vienna to combat period poverty as part of the "Red Box" initiative since 2023, and the project was recently extended for a further three years. The "Red Box" provides people with limited financial resources in Vienna with free period products from the BIPA brand BI COMFORT. The vouchers can be collected from social markets, youth centres and women's advice centres and redeemed for tampons and sanitary towels in all BIPA shops in Vienna.
Both German and English comments appear here.
Super Initiative, vielleicht ja auch etwas für REWE, PENNY, toom... in Deutschland :)
Ein toller Schritt! Vorbildlich!
Bitte auf die vielen weiteren Mitarbeiterinnen der weiteren REWE-Geschäftseinheiten ausdehnen.
Das wäre wunderbar und zukunftsgerichtet.