The Menopause and the Workplace report by the Fawcett Society and Channel 4, which polled 4,000 women aged 45-55, found that 10 per cent had left their job because of symptoms of the menopause.
Employer recommendations
➖Normalise menopause - make menopause a normal health matter to talk about in the workplace. This gives employees the confidence to ask for help and support if they need it.
➖Provide resources and training to people managers – dispel taboos through education. See CIPD's Menopause at work: Guide for people managers. Managers and leaders should lead by example and enable good conversations about menopause, to understand what it is, and how it can affect an employee.
➖Raise awareness across the organisation and encourage conversations so team members know they can ask for support if they need it. Provide guidance on available support (for example; from health insurers, internal support groups) and include points of contact (such as HR) for raising concerns.
➖Train HR teams on how to support employees and how to coach people managers so they can support their people effectively. See CIPD's Menopause at work: A guide for people professionals.
➖Ask employees, or any existing D&I networks, what support they require.
➖People managers should consider offering employees experiencing menopausal symptoms the following:
- flexible working such as changing working patterns or working from home
- counselling and mental health support if required
- option to take more regular breaks
- more time to prepare before meetings, appointments or engagements.
➖Make flexible work the default.
➖Update policies. Check that your organisation's health and safety, wellbeing, and absence policies and frameworks recognise menopause as a health issue. See Channel 4's Menopause Policy as an example.
➖Where possible, provide access to occupational health professionals for employees reluctant to have conversations with their manager.
➖Conduct a workplace assessment and make any necessary changes that could help ease employees’ menopausal symptoms while they’re at work. Temperature control can be challenging for people if they are going through the menopause. They may benefit from a desk fan or be able to open a window throughout the year. If that is not possible, then short breaks to cool down may be a good substitute.
➖ Recognise and appreciate that the menopause can impact trans and non-binary people who don’t identify as women in the same manner.
➖ Recognise that all women will experience their menopause in different ways and with differing symptoms and degrees of symptoms.
🔦Signatory Spotlight
Learn the practical steps that Lloyds Banking Group took to better support their staff members experiencing menopause through their Menopause Promise.
Further information
- Resource: Factsheet – Gynaecological conditions, Business Disability Forum
- Resource: Menopause at work: A guide for people professionals, CIPD
- Resource: Menopause at work: Guide for people managers, CIPD
- Infographic: Menopause, BUPA
- Article: The Menopause myths that employers are busting, Henpicked
- Guide: How to talk to employees about the menopause, ACAS
- Policy: Menopause, Channel 4
- Article: One million women could quit due to lack of menopause support, People Management Magazine
- Report: Menopause and the Workplace 2022, The Fawcett Society