Menopause in the workplace: Supporting employees
With women over 50 now the fastest growing workforce demographic, more people than ever are experiencing menopause at work. As a result, creating a positive culture of support and wellbeing around menopause is key to retaining skilled members of the workforce.
Menopause can affect women for several years, often coinciding with the peak of years of their careers. Despite being a natural stage of life for many, a report by the Government Equalities Office found that it’s not as well understood in the workplace as pregnancy or maternity leave.
While some women navigate menopause with relative ease, for others it’s a complex and distressing period, resulting in sickness absence and impacting performance. As many as three in five women feel the negative impact of menopause at work, while a study by BUPA found almost 900,000 women in the UK had left their jobs because of menopausal symptoms, with the resulting loss for employers of talent and experience.
Fortunately, employers can support their workforce and lessen the impact of menopause on their organisation, the case for which is made even more compelling by the increasing number of employment tribunal claims around menopause.
In this article, we’ll look at menopause in the workplace and what employers can do to support staff.
Understanding menopause and its impact
Anyone with a menstrual cycle can experience menopause. As well as women, this can include people who do not identify as women, including trans women, intersex, and non-binary people.
However, most of the population will be affected by menopause in some way, with partners, relatives, friends, children, carers, and colleagues all responsible for supporting those experiencing menopause symptoms. So, when employers have conversations about menopause, inclusivity should be high on the agenda.
What is menopause
According to the NHS, menopause occurs when periods have stopped for over twelve months due to lower hormone levels, which typically happens between the ages of 45 and 55, though it can be a lot earlier in some cases. Furthermore, some people go through menopause after having had surgery (for example, a hysterectomy) or following cancer treatment.
Physical and psychological symptoms can start years before the menopause transition, known as the perimenopause. Following the menopause itself, many go through what is known as the post-menopause phase, the time after menopause were a woman hasn’t had a period for over a year but continues to experience symptoms of menopause.
Until now, much of the focus of menopause has centred on heterosexual, white ‘older’ middle-class, middle-aged women. But there are differences in biological and hormonal changes in women of different races and ethnicity, as well as differences between women of different ages, backgrounds and cultures.
For example, the British Menopause Society points out that the average age of a women living in India to go through the menopause is 46, whereas the average age for women in Western countries is 51, and there are also significant differences among women’s perceptions, attitudes, education and expectations surrounding menopause.
The physical and emotional impact on employees
Women going through menopause experience a wide range of symptoms, the most well-known of which include a change in periods, hot flushes (sudden feelings of hot or cold in the face, neck and chest) and fatigue.
In addition to these, there are plenty of other symptoms that can also affect performance at work, including:
- Night sweats and insomnia
- Headaches
- Loss of concentration
- Anxiety and worry
Menopause can also have a huge impact in social situations, with research showing a third of women feel less outgoing in social situations due to menopause, while over a fifth feel more isolated.
The importance of menopause support at work
Almost 4.5 million women in the workplace are of an age where the menopause typically affects them. They bring experience, knowledge, and skills to the workplace, and many are role models for younger workers.
Productivity is reduced when employees leave, while the time and resources required to hire new staff are significant, with the estimated cost to hire somebody on the UK average salary currently at £3,000. Add to that how research shows diverse companies are more likely to make a greater profit, and the case for prioritising support with a specific menopause policy at work is clear.
Menopause and the law
Although there are no menopause-specific employment laws, growing numbers of women are taking their employers to court citing the menopause as proof of unfair dismissal and direct sex discrimination. In fact, reports show that employment tribunal claims which cite the menopause have nearly doubled in a year.
The laws to consider here are the:
- Equality Act 2010, which protects workers against discrimination
- The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 which deals with the protection employers have towards employees
The menopause is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. However, if an employee is disadvantaged and treated less favourably because of their menopause symptoms, it could be discrimination if it relates to a protected characteristic, such as:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Sex
Discussing menopause in the workplace
During the last century, many women quietly went through the menopause at home – often while caring for children and elderly parents. Fast forward to the present day, women are working more than ever before, managing symptoms while holding down a job, often in more senior roles than in the past, while managing caring responsibilities at home.
The good news is the conversation about menopause has recently gained traction. High profile women, including Michelle Obama, have opened up on podcasts and television, products and books are flying off the shelves, while Channel 4 has a comedy series featuring a menopausal woman as the lead character.
This growing awareness led to the UK government appointing its first menopause employment champion in 2023 and the inclusion of menopause in the English school curriculum in September 2020. But that doesn’t mean everyone finds it easy to talk about. Menopause is still sometimes considered a social taboo, and conversations in the workplace need to be handled sensitively.
Linking menopause support to employee wellbeing and performance
The impact menopause has on the workforce is vast, reportedly costing the UK economy as many as 14 million working days a year. These lost working days can significantly decrease productivity and organisational performance.
With nearly half of women who take a day off due to menopause not comfortable disclosing the reason, creating a work environment that supports the health and wellbeing of employees going through menopause is crucial to minimise these adverse effects.
By fostering this supportive environment, employers are able to better manage absenteeism, retain staff and maintain high levels of performance across the workforce.
Creating a menopause-friendly work environment
Alongside employers’ duty of care for staff wellbeing, the impact menopause can have on performance and organisational goals means creating a supportive environment for those experiencing symptoms should be an integral part of a comprehensive employee value proposition (EVP).
Let’s take a look at some of the ways employers can support employees going through menopause by fostering awareness and understanding.
1. Offer flexible work arrangements
Simple changes can make a huge difference. These can include providing a fan for an employees’ desk or being flexible about time off to visit a GP.
Generally speaking, employers should think about how their workplace may be making menopause symptoms worse and look to change that. For example, considering:
- Is the office well-ventilated?
- Do employees have easy access to the bathroom and cold drinking water?
Being flexible about start and finish times, and where an employee works, including hybrid and remote options, can significantly help manage symptoms, with employees now able to make requests for flexible work easily under the new Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023.
2. Create menopause resources and information
Despite the publicity over recent years, there’s still a lack of awareness around the topic of menopause. One way employers can help employees is providing easily accessible resources.
This could take the form of documents like “Menopause Support and Guidance for Employees” or even a “Menopause Policy”, distributed alongside other wellbeing resources, with information about:
- Flexible working options
- Taking breaks when necessary
- Talking to line managers in a confidential way
- Supporting colleagues by being respectful about the menopause
In addition to this, employers can also introduce similar resources for managers to help them better support their teams.
3. Provide training for managers
Creating an environment where employees feel comfortable discussing menopause is crucial to managing the absenteeism that can occur when employees experience symptoms. However, according to the Women and Equalities Commission, less than a third of people experiencing menopause tell anyone at work, citing concern around privacy and people’s reactions.
Organisations can manage these difficulties by training managers on how to talk about the menopause and listen sensitively to related issues. When considering training for managers, employers can think about:
- Knowledge about the menopause and its effects
- The support and guidance the organisation can offer
- How to deal with menopause issues sensitively and fairly
4. Introduce menopause champions
To help kickstart a conversation around menopause at work, employers can appoint dedicated Menopause Ambassadors or Champions within their organisations.
The goal of Menopause champions is to educate colleagues around the support available to them when struggling with symptoms, create support networks and distribute useful resources, helping to:
- Promote good practice around the menopause
- Provide support for employees who don’t feel comfortable talking to their manager
- Serve as a point of contact for anyone seeking advice on menopause-related issues
Furthermore, these individuals can also run in-person events, webinars, awareness campaigns and check that health and safety risk assessments consider menopause issues.
Embracing menopause support as a workplace priority
While menopause is an inevitable stage of life, employees leaving the workplace because of their symptoms shouldn’t be inevitable. Neither should the high cost to an organisation to replace the skills and expertise of these employees.
Remember, making menopause support a priority and taking a holistic approach can not only save recruitment costs but position you as an employer of choice for experienced candidates and make it easier to retain a skilled workforce.
Here, at Totaljobs, for example, we are working on an inclusive and supportive working environment for all colleagues to help them feel able to ask for adjustments to help them manage symptoms at work, with a pledge to:
- Commit to positive conversations about women’s health and menopause
- Proactively provide support and reliable access to resources
- Challenge negative attitudes and identify the issues of menopause