Updated 3 October 2026
At a glance
- In an international study of 1,418 premenopausal women in ten countries, each affected woman lost on average 10.8 hours of work weekly, mainly owing to reduced effectiveness while working.
- Acas says nobody has to tell their employer, or potential employer, they are disabled, and suggests that before a meeting about adjustments people think about what they want to share, write notes, and practice aloud.
- The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission preemployment guidance says employers may ask about an applicant's ability to perform specific job functions, such as stating a job's physical requirements and asking whether the applicant can meet them.
- Endometriosis Journey is an Endometriosis tracker that keeps pain, bleeding, energy, and daily notes in one dated history, and its insights show which work conditions line up with your better and harder weeks.
A new job is a bundle of conditions: hours, commute, how long you stand, whether you can take a break when you need one. With endometriosis, those conditions can change how a week goes, and they are hard to judge from a job ad.
This guide covers the log side only: what to record about the work conditions that suit you, how to compare roles with the same fields, and how to keep factual notes for interviews and adjustment conversations. It gives no legal advice, and it points to official sources for questions about what to share.
Start from your own endometriosis pattern before you read the next job ad
Work affects many people with endometriosis, and the numbers are large. The international study of 1,418 premenopausal women in ten countries reported that each affected woman lost on average 10.8 hours of work weekly, mainly owing to reduced effectiveness while working. WHO says endometriosis affects an estimated 10% (190 million) of reproductive age women worldwide, and that some individuals with endometriosis experience debilitating pain or other symptoms that prevent them from going to work or school.
A job search asks you to judge conditions you cannot see yet. Your own log tells you which conditions to look for. Four to six weeks of entries on the following five groups are enough to start: schedule and hours, commute and place, standing and sitting, flexibility you used, and the days that went well. For fatigue inside a work day and the notes that matter on those days, read how endometriosis fatigue shows up at work and what to track; this guide leaves that ground to it. For a first baseline log, see how to start tracking endometriosis.
Keep the entries short and the fields the same every day, so that a comparison between a good week and a hard week shows what actually differed.
In Endometriosis Journey (by Health Journey Labs), the Daily check-in covers pelvic pain, fatigue, bowel or bladder symptoms, and what work or plans you limited, in one guided pass. That makes a work column a quick add. The Period Tracker logs start and stop dates, flow, and how heavy or light bleeding felt, so job conditions can be read against cycle weeks. Insights relate those entries across weeks and show which kinds of days repeat.
Schedule and hours with endometriosis: record what each kind of week asks of you
Hours are the condition employers state most clearly and the one that shapes the rest of a day. Record the facts of your current or recent schedule so a new one can be held against them.
Table comparing schedules and hours, by Endometriosis Journey
| Condition | What to record |
|---|---|
| Start time and shift length | Hours worked, and how the day went in the first and last hours |
| Fixed or flexible hours | Whether you could move a start time or a task |
| Break timing | When you took breaks, and whether you could take one when you needed it |
| After-effects | The day after a long or demanding shift |
| Cycle week | Which week of the cycle each hard shift fell in |
From Endometriosis Journey, we recommend adding the cycle week to every hard-shift note, because a schedule that works in most weeks can look different in one specific week. After a month, note which shift types, lengths, and starts went well and which ones took the rest of the day with them.
With Endometriosis Journey, the Flare Tracker marks a day clearly worse than your usual hard week, with onset, intensity, and a short note. It makes it easy to see which shift a flare landed on. Weekly Goals sets one small aim, such as noting the start and end time in every entry this month, and shows whether it held. Insights separate a one-off bad shift from hard days that follow a repeating schedule.
Commute, standing, and sitting with endometriosis: the physical side of a work day
Many roles come down to how much of the day is spent on your feet, seated, or moving. A job ad lists these loosely, so build your own numbers.
Table for commuting, standing and sitting, by Endometriosis Journey
| Condition | Entry |
|---|---|
| Commute | Door-to-door minutes, mode, seat or no seat, and how you arrived |
| Time on feet | Rough hours standing or walking, in blocks |
| Time seated | Longest stretch without changing position |
| Rest and restroom access | How quickly you could step away |
| Heat, lifting, carrying | Heat pack or warmth available; loads handled |
Compare two kinds of days, a usual day and a hard day, and keep the units the same. "Stood 3 hours in two blocks, pain 6 by the last hour" gives a future conversation more than "standing is hard". Note the medicines you take as prescribed alongside the shift times, without changing anything for the sake of a record.
In Endometriosis Journey, the Daily Journal takes freer notes, including by voice when pain makes typing hard, so a line like "stood for three hours, sat for the last two" is saved the same day. Those lines hold detail that a pain score cannot. My Meds records names and timing for medicines you take as prescribed, so a work log and a medicine log share dates. Insights relate those notes to pain, sleep, and energy.
Work flexibility you used for endometriosis: how often, and what it changed
Flexibility comes in many forms, and a log shows which ones matter to you. For every day you used one, write a line:
List of changes in work flexibility, by Endometriosis Journey
- What you changed: a later start, a remote day, an extra break, a handed-over task, a swapped shift, a day off
- Why you needed it, in a few words
- Whether it worked: did you finish the day, and how did you feel that evening and the next morning
Count the uses at the end of each month. A sentence such as "I used a later start 3 times and two remote days, and the day after went better each time" gives you a short list of flexibility that helps. It also shows flexibility you did not use, which can matter just as much when you compare roles.
The same count helps with planned time. Medical appointments, tests, and recovery days belong in a separate note, so a role's attendance expectations can be compared with the actual number of hours you spend on care.
With Endometriosis Journey, My Assessments holds structured check-ins that add life and social context to daily scores. That helps when the question is how a whole week of working felt, beyond one day. The Daily Journal can hold a one-line flexibility note on the day you used it. The note stays with its date. Insights show whether weeks with flexibility look different from weeks without it.
Compare two roles with the same endometriosis fields
When you have two options, or your current job and a posting, fill a sheet that uses the fields from your log. Mark a field "unknown" when the ad or interview has not answered it, and ask about those fields.
Two-role comparison table, by Endometriosis Journey
| Field | Current role | Option |
|---|---|---|
| Hours and start time | 9 to 5, fixed | Unknown |
| Days on site and commute | 5 days, 50 minutes | 3 days, 25 minutes |
| Time on feet and seated | Mostly seated | Unknown |
| Break control and restroom access | Free | Unknown |
| Remote days and notice | None | Stated in the ad |
The example entries show the format. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission preemployment guidance says employers may state the physical requirements of a job, such as lifting a certain weight, and ask whether an applicant can satisfy them, so the sheet's physical rows give you the same facts to look for. Write each question about the job's conditions, such as shift pattern or time on feet, and keep your notes about your own health out of the sheet (Endometriosis Journey checklist).
In Endometriosis Journey, Learn offers short education topics on endometriosis themes such as cycle pain, fatigue, pacing, and visit prep. They give plain-language background to read before a job change. My Assessments adds structured check-ins that deepen the picture beyond scores. Together they give you wording for what you are comparing. Insights draw on your history, so the sheet starts from your own weeks.
Endometriosis notes for interviews and adjustment conversations
What to share, and when, is your decision. Acas guidance on asking for reasonable adjustments says nobody has to tell their employer, or potential employer, they are disabled, and lists ways to make a request: in writing, in a meeting, or through a formal process if the organization has one. The Acas guidance on having a meeting suggests that before a meeting about adjustments, people think carefully about what they do and do not want to tell, write down notes to refer to during the conversation, and practice out loud or role-play with someone they trust. For official positions on what employers can ask, read the Acas and U.S. EEOC pages directly rather than relying on a summary here.
A one-page notes sheet from your log keeps you factual:
List of interview and adjustment notes, by Endometriosis Journey
- The working conditions that matter most to you, from your own entries
- Two or three examples, with dates, of what helped, such as a later start or a remote day
- What you would like to try, described as a working arrangement
- The questions you want answered about the role
GOV.UK Access to Work (a UK scheme) says it can help pay for communication support at a job interview, and offers grants for practical support with work. It also says it does not pay for reasonable adjustments, which Acas describes as changes an employer makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to someone's disability. Check which scheme and rules apply where you live.
With Endometriosis Journey, AI companions such as Clara see your logged history and can help you word a short, factual summary of what helps at work, or practice an answer out loud. The facts still come from your entries. The Daily Journal holds your prep notes and the notes you take after a conversation, with the date. Insights rest on what you logged, so your examples are specific.
After you start or switch jobs with endometriosis: first month, six-month review, and a clinician check-in
Treat the first four weeks in a new role as a new baseline. Use the fields from your old log, and compare them with the sheet you made before you started. Anything that changed, such as a new commute or a different shift, goes in the note with its date.
The Acas guidance on reviewing adjustments and keeping a record says adjustments might need to change over time, for example in a new role or when something changes at work, and that people could talk with their manager regularly, such as every 6 months or if something changes. It also suggests keeping a record in writing, and describes a "reasonable adjustments passport" that records how a disability affects someone at work, the adjustments agreed, and any they might need in the future.
First-month job review for a clinician
Endometriosis Journey sums up hours worked and symptom entries for the visit.
Bring the first-month summary to your next clinician visit: the hours worked, the entries for good days and hard days, and what you want to ask. Your clinician decides what is useful to write down; your log holds the facts. For short appointments, see how to prepare for a short endometriosis doctor visit.
In Endometriosis Journey, My Care Team adds clinicians and short visit notes, so you can list what you want to ask about work and review the notes afterward. The Doctor Report exports a one-page summary of dated entries, including pain, cycle timing, energy, and function. It gives the visit a place to start. Insights draw on the same history, so the page shows weeks and not one day.
How Endometriosis Journey can help
A notebook can hold a few weeks of work-condition entries. The harder part is keeping them consistent across a job search or a change, relating them to pain, bleeding, and energy weeks, and finding the comparison when a decision date arrives. For a comparison of current trackers, see Best Endometriosis Apps 2026: Trackers Compared.
Endometriosis Journey is a personal Endometriosis tracker from Health Journey Labs on the App Store and Google Play. It lets you keep pain, bleeding, energy, work conditions, medicines, and visit notes in one dated history that you can summarize when you compare roles or prepare for a conversation. Its insights relate those entries across weeks, so you and your clinicians can see which conditions lined up with better days and what changed around harder ones. Below is what you can use and how each part helps.
- Daily check-in — A short guided pass across physical symptoms, emotional state, nutrition, sleep, exercise, meds, and external factors — including pelvic pain, fatigue, bowel or bladder symptoms, and what work or plans you limited. What you keep lets insights show links memory alone often misses.
- Daily Journal — Freer notes, including voice when pain makes typing hard: what the day limited, partner talks, fertility questions, visit debriefs, or leftover guilt after you canceled plans. Those lines give insights context that scores alone cannot carry.
- Flare Tracker — Mark a day clearly worse than your usual hard endometriosis week — onset, intensity, and a short note when pelvic pain, fatigue, or bowel symptoms jump above baseline. Flare marks help insights separate a one-off spike from a repeating pattern.
- My Meds — Medicine names and timing (including options you already use for pain as directed). When you log a med or dose, insights can relate that timing to pain weeks, energy, sleep, and the rest of what you tracked.
- My Labs — Result dates when imaging, bloodwork, or other tests are ordered. Logging results lets insights and follow-up weigh numbers alongside the pain and function you lived that week.
- Weekly Goals — Set one small aim — log every non-bleed pain day this cycle, finish a soft visit ask list, pack the heat pack the night before — and see whether it held.
- Learn — Short education topics and prompts on endometriosis-related themes (cycle pain, fatigue, pacing, visit prep). Use them when you want calm context beside your own logged weeks.
- AI companions — Clara is the general chat; specialist companions cover major topics. They already see your logged history — useful for visit wording or a calm partner script, while insights still rest on what you logged.
- My Care Team — Add clinicians and short visit notes. Use it to prep what to ask and what to bring, jot notes during the visit, and review afterward.
- Doctor Report — Export a one-page summary drawn from the history you already logged — dates, pelvic pain, cycle timing, energy, and how you functioned — so a short gyn visit can open from the patterns and weeks you lived.
- My Assessments — Structured check-ins that deepen the picture beyond daily scores. Together with your ongoing history they give insights richer context about your life and social picture.
- Food Tracker — Meal or drink lines when food may relate to worse pain, energy, or bowel days. Logging food lets insights relate meals or drinks to flares and energy across the week.
- Period Tracker — Log start and stop dates, flow, and how heavy or light bleeding felt. Insights can relate those weeks to pelvic pain, energy, bowel symptoms, and what else you logged — so cycle stretches fit your full picture.
- Weight Tracker — Scale or body notes when weight is part of what you and your clinician are watching. Insights can show how weight shifts sit with energy, sleep, and pain weeks across the weeks you tracked.
Everything you log builds one history, and insights get stronger as it grows. Custom symptoms let you add your own labels.
We make Endometriosis Journey at Health Journey Labs. This guide is educational and does not replace medical advice. Diagnosis, medication decisions, and urgent care decisions belong with your treating clinicians.
Sources
- PubMed — Nnoaham KE et al., Impact of endometriosis on quality of life and work productivity: a multicenter study across ten countries (Fertility and Sterility, 2011)
- WHO — Endometriosis (fact sheet)
- Acas — What reasonable adjustments are
- Acas — Making and handling requests (asking for reasonable adjustments)
- Acas — Having a meeting about reasonable adjustments
- Acas — Reviewing reasonable adjustments and keeping a record
- GOV.UK — Access to Work: get support if you have a disability or health condition
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — Enforcement Guidance: Preemployment Disability-Related Questions and Medical Examinations
FAQ
The answers below draw on the sources cited in this guide, and the app they mention is Endometriosis Journey (by Health Journey Labs).
What should I log before I change jobs?
Log hours, commute, time on feet and seated, break access, and any flexibility you used, alongside how each day went. Four to six weeks gives a pattern that you can hold a new role against.
In Endometriosis Journey, the Daily check-in and Daily Journal hold the same fields every day, so a work column sits alongside pain and energy. Insights show which kinds of days repeat.
How long should I track before comparing roles?
Aim for at least a full cycle or two, since a single good month can hide a hard week. If you have less time, compare what you have, label the date span, and keep logging.
With Endometriosis Journey, the Period Tracker keeps cycle timing alongside your work notes, so a one-cycle or two-cycle view is easy to read. Insights grow stronger as the history lengthens.
How do I record standing and sitting time without timing everything?
Use blocks and estimates: the longest stretch on your feet, the longest stretch seated, and total hours rounded to the nearest half hour. Record the same way on usual days and hard days so the comparison holds.
With Endometriosis Journey, the Daily Journal holds a quick line, typed or spoken, such as "on my feet 3 hours in two blocks". Insights relate those lines to your pain entries across the same weeks.
How do I tell whether a remote day helped?
Compare remote days with on-site days using the same fields: commute minutes saved, breaks taken, pain at the end of the day, and how the next morning went. Several weeks of both kinds give a fair comparison.
In Endometriosis Journey, the Flare Tracker and Daily check-in record how each day went, with dates you can sort by location. Insights show whether remote weeks differ from on-site weeks.
What do I do with the physical requirements in a job ad?
Match them to your log. The EEOC preemployment guidance says employers may state the physical requirements of a job and ask whether an applicant can satisfy them. Note which requirements match tasks you have done and how they went.
With Endometriosis Journey, My Assessments and your Daily Journal entries give you dated examples of the tasks in question. Insights draw on your history, so you start from your own weeks.
Do I have to tell a potential employer about endometriosis?
Acas says nobody has to tell their employer, or potential employer, they are disabled. What to share and when is your decision; read the Acas and U.S. EEOC pages directly for the position that applies where you live.
In Endometriosis Journey, Learn offers short education topics that can help you think through the conversation, and the Daily Journal holds your prep notes. The choice about sharing stays entirely yours.
How can I prepare for a conversation about adjustments?
Acas suggests thinking carefully about what you want to share, writing notes to refer to during the conversation, and practicing out loud or role-playing with someone you trust. Add two dated examples from your log.
With Endometriosis Journey, AI companions can help you practice and word your notes, and your entries give the dates. Insights draw on your history, so each example carries a date.
What are reasonable adjustments in plain terms?
Acas describes them as changes an employer makes to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to someone's disability, such as a different way of doing something or changes to working arrangements. Rules differ by country.
In Endometriosis Journey, the Daily Journal can hold a note of which working arrangement helped on which day. Insights relate those notes to your pain, energy, and sleep entries across the same weeks, so the arrangement and the outcome sit together.
What does Access to Work cover?
GOV.UK says Access to Work, a UK scheme, can help get or stay in work with a physical or mental health condition, including grants for practical support and communication support at job interviews. It also says the scheme does not pay for reasonable adjustments.
With Endometriosis Journey, Learn and AI companions can help you plan what to ask or look up. Insights supply your own history, and the scheme's page has the current rules.
How often should I review work conditions after I start?
Acas suggests talking with a manager regularly, for example every 6 months or if something changes. Review your own log on that rhythm, and also after any change in role, shift, or workplace.
In Endometriosis Journey, Weekly Goals can hold a recurring review aim, and the Doctor Report summarizes the months since the last one. Insights draw on the longer history of what you logged.
Should I put requests in writing?
Acas says a request can be made in writing, in a meeting, or through a formal process, and that anyone asking for adjustments should consider doing it in writing as well as talking. A short written note keeps the details.
With Endometriosis Journey, AI companions can help you word a brief, factual message from your own entries, and you edit it before sending. Insights supply the pattern behind the request.
What is a reasonable adjustments passport?
Acas describes it as a record of how a disability affects someone at work, the adjustments agreed with the employer, and any they might need in the future. It can help when a manager changes.
In Endometriosis Journey, your Daily Journal entries and the Doctor Report summary can supply dated facts for such a record. Insights show how your needs shifted over the months you logged.
How do I judge a commute before I accept a job?
Try it once at the planned time on a usual day and on a day in a harder cycle week if you can, and record the minutes, the seat, and how you felt on arrival. The result is better than a map estimate.
With Endometriosis Journey, the Daily check-in records how you felt on the trial day, and the Period Tracker shows where it fell in the cycle. Insights place both against your usual weeks.
What can I log if I am between jobs?
Log your daily activity pattern: how many hours of structured activity felt manageable, which time of day went best, and what breaks you needed. Those entries translate directly into the fields for a job comparison.
In Endometriosis Journey, the Daily check-in and Weekly Goals work for a week with no work schedule: log the day, then set one small aim. Insights show your best hours across the weeks.
Should I worry about privacy when I track symptoms?
Bleeding, pain during sex and fertility notes are personal, and partners, parents or coworkers may share a device with you. Use a screen lock, keep the log off family tablets, and choose which entries go to the gynecology visit.
Entries you add to Endometriosis Journey are your own health notes. Check the app's privacy policy for how data is stored and handled. Nothing in this article is medical advice.