Menopause in the workplace: The Complete Guide
What to know to support staff working through menopause
Menopausal women are the fastest-growing demographic in the workforce.
Around 13 million women are currently peri or menopausal in the UK – equivalent to almost 1/3 of the entire UK female population.
Despite this staggering statistic, the vast majority of UK companies still don’t have a menopause work policy in place to support their female employees. Ignorance and confusion around the subject of menopause is commonplace and many women don’t know how to help themselves when going into this period of their lives.
Lack of support hurts companies financially due to a loss of output and employee retention. Find out how much money your business could save with our unique menopause workplace support calculator.
If you’re a working woman going into menopause, a co-worker, an HR professional or a line manager looking to support employees - you’ve come to the right place!
Positive Pause spearhead a movement to positively support menopausal women in the workplace through appropriate menopause training.
What should your business do to support menopausal women?
Two-thirds of UK women agree there should be more workplace support for women going through menopause.
The best way to provide that support to coworkers and employees is undoubtedly through education, awareness, and openness.
Opening up the conversation around menopause will help employees understand that it’s a health concern taken seriously and supported by their employer. Training ensures should employees need, or indeed want to raise it in the workplace, they will know how and where to access support from HR and managers who will know how to respond to this workplace issue and make appropriate changes and reasonable adjustments to help menopausal women in the workplace.
We need to be conscious that this age and the gender-related issue can have a huge effect on careers and professional confidence. We cover this issue with practical tips on what women can do to help themselves with work coach, Zena Everett in Working through menopause | 10 tips to boost your midlife career confidence
Find out some of the barriers that stop people from talking about menopause at work.
Menopause Work Policies
High-value support and menopause-friendly workplace culture can be developed by adopting a menopause work policy.
This has been a much-discussed topic in the political and corporate worlds. All women in the UK will go through menopause and yet the number of companies with clear policies around it is still too small.
This needs encourages further questioning when we compare with the maternity policy requirements, a legally enforced requisite, despite the fact that all women in employment will not have children but most will go through menopause.
Pillars of a good menopause work policy include:
Flexible working
Reasonable adjustments in place
Signposting of internal support and resources
An open-to-discussion work culture
An age-positive work culture
We explored the above points and more with Sky News and BBC Business World, you can watch these on our Workplace Training page.
Menopause Training and Courses
Training for all, particularly managers, helps to start essential conversations, increases confidence and helps to create inclusive and open cultures that benefit those going through menopause themselves, those supporting a partner, peer or family member and the organisation.
Some of the most important lessons within a training course are based around:
The range of menopause symptoms and how they may impact performance at work
Menopause treatment options
Self-help strategies women can implement to improve menopause symptoms.
Reasonable adjustments organisations can make to support their staff.
How to have a conversation around menopause, as an employee or as a line manager.
Positive Pause offers expert menopause training courses for businesses to take you through all of the above and more.
Menopause & Mental health in the workplace
Many working women experience serious negative effects on their mental health due to menopause symptoms.
How common is it? In a 2022 survey, 69% say they experience difficulties with anxiety or depression due to menopause.
Although this side of the menopause conversation has received more attention in recent years in the political and corporate spheres, more needs to be done. Potential psychological symptoms associated with menopause include:
Low mood
Irrational mood swings
Anxiety
Inability to concentrate
Brain fog
Low self-esteem and confidence
Irritability and difficulty coping
Find out what we can do to help you to help your team. Let us help your organisation become a menopause-friendly employer!
