Anucia De Boer.
Anucia de Boer, Head of People and Culture, The Digital Picnic
A few minutes after I arrived at the office one morning, I was already panicking. I could feel the start of an endometriosis flare, but I had only just walked in. Like so many people with chronic illness, I was calculating what would look worse: pushing through or admitting I was not okay and leaving almost as soon as I had arrived.
Then the agency founder noticed me from across the office. She came over, asked a few questions and said, “You’re about to have a flare. You need to get home.”
That moment stayed with me because it was the opposite of what I had experienced before. In a previous workplace, I spent a week in hospital and was back at my desk after one day at home, with no real consideration for my workload, health or headspace. At The Digital Picnic, someone saw what was happening before I had to prove it.
That is the part of workplace support we do not talk about enough. It is not just policy. It is awareness. It is safety. It is the feeling that you do not have to perform wellness in order to be trusted.
Endometriosis is often described as a women’s health issue, but it is also a workplace issue. It is widely recognised as one of the world’s most painful medical conditions. More than one million Australians are living with endometriosis, and around one in 10 women of reproductive age worldwide are affected. Yet many workplaces still do not have a policy that acknowledges it exists, and diagnosis is often delayed by four to 12 years. (source https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/slideshows/ranking-the-most-painful-medical-conditions).
The challenge for workplaces is not only that people with endometriosis need support. It is that many still do not understand how common, invisible and disruptive the disease can be. People mask pain, fatigue, nausea and brain fog, then push through meetings, deadlines and commutes while trying not to appear unreliable. The support gap often begins with an awareness gap.
That is why The Digital Picnic’s Endometriosis Support Policy matters to me, but not for the reason people might assume.
I was not the person who championed this policy. It was championed by two other leaders in the business, and for the first time, I did not have to advocate for myself or explain why my chronic illness needed to be taken seriously. The conversation was brought to me, and I was asked for my input as someone with lived experience.
That distinction matters. Too often, the burden of change sits with the person already carrying the illness: educating, disclosing, justifying, advocating and working at the same time. Here, the leadership already had a policy in place. Then, the people around me saw a need, acted on it and made space for my lived experience to shape the outcome.
That is powerful because it shows what advocacy can look like inside a workplace. It does not always begin with the person who is unwell having to ask for help. Sometimes it begins with leaders paying attention.
There was already care, understanding and safety at TDP. But as a business grows, culture cannot rely only on individual kindness or informal understanding. If something matters, it needs to be baked into the bones of the business. That is what this policy protects.
Practically, the policy formalises flexible work arrangements, paid leave for medical appointments, adjustments during severe symptoms, support around surgery and recovery, and a commitment to reducing stigma. These things matter. They give people permission to ask for what they need without feeling like they are asking for special treatment.
But the policy is only one part of the story. The bigger story is the kind of workplace it helps preserve: one where someone can be believed before they have to break down, where chronic illness is not treated as a character flaw, and where care does not disappear as the business becomes busier, bigger or more complex.
Workplaces also have a role beyond supporting the people already inside their walls: they can help move the broader conversation on endometriosis awareness.
That matters in marketing and communications, where so many talented women and gender-diverse people build their careers. We spend our working lives helping brands understand people more deeply. We should be just as willing to understand the people working beside us.
Endometriosis is not “just a bad period”. It is a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect energy, concentration, mobility and mental health. For many people, every day involves balancing work alongside specialist appointments, pain management, flare-ups, fatigue and the uncertainty of not knowing what tomorrow will feel like.
If we are serious about building inclusive workplaces, we need to stop treating chronic illness as an exception. Support should not depend on whether someone has an unusually empathetic manager. It should not depend on whether an employee feels safe enough, brave enough or exhausted enough to disclose what they are living with.
Policies matter because they create consistency. Culture matters because it gives people permission to use them.
For me, the power of TDP’s Endometriosis Support Policy is that it does both. It provides practical support, but it also protects something deeply human: the right to be seen, believed and supported before you reach breaking point.
No one should have to choose between managing a painful, unpredictable chronic disease and building a meaningful career. Workplaces can help close that gap, not just by writing policies, but by building awareness, creating safety and making care part of the way the business operates.
That is not just good policy. It is good leadership.