How Can Workplaces Better Support Women Through the Menopause
Menopause until now has been one of those subjects that has been easy to put off thinking about until tomorrow, next month or possibly even next year. This is both for those who will experience it and for HR departments. But with the information recently released by the cross-party, Women and Equalities Committee, there is a growing urgency to change that perspective.
There are very good reasons why menopause has become a much-discussed topic. For the first time we have a large cohort of highly qualified and experienced people in the workplace, who either are or soon will be entering their peri-menopause, 75% of whom will experience symptoms. 10% will choose to leave the workforce, this needn’t be the case.
When someone leaves employment, the organisation loses existing investment in that individual – training and mentoring over the period of their employment – their connectivity and industry knowledge – relationships and the detailed understanding of how to get things done – plus their future potential in leadership roles and for sponsoring and mentoring young employees. This is before any cost of recruitment and loss of productivity, is taken into consideration.
For those who are menopausal and chose to leave employment or downgrade their role, the loss of current and future earning potential is considerable, which in turn affects their pension. The long-term business, personal and social impact is discussed far too infrequently. This position may be unrecoverable should people remain unemployed or working at a lower level.
Both organisations and individuals have much to lose. However there are things that can be done to ensure people choose to not only stay in employment, but also to remain focused on their career ambitions.
What can organisations do?
The list is long, which is often where we get caught up in the fear of doing too little or too much. There is no right or wrong answer as it depends on the size of the organisation and the available budget. It is important to note here that the calculation is not made on the current number of potentially menopausal employees. Because of the symptoms associated with menopause, the sphere of impact is larger than just one person. No one is an island. Menopausal symptoms cannot be left at home, away from the screen or behind the security gates.
To make things easy I generally break it down into three key areas of focus:
Culture
While many will sigh deeply at this point, most of us know that those organisations that create an inclusive culture, that welcomes diversity, values people’s contribution and encourages those who need support to seek it, will be the most successful at attracting and retaining the best talent. For menopause this is about raising awareness across all employees, from the post room to the board room. Challenging long held societal bias and stereotypes that limit open conversations and negatively impact career prospects. Providing focused training for managers, equipping them with the tools and processes to support their team members and empowering those who are menopausal to keep their career on track.
Procedures
Many organisations are choosing to hold back from creating formal policies and guidelines until the law enforces it. In fact, in a recent survey 72% of those questioned confirmed they had no policy in place. While I empathise with this position especially in our complex post pandemic working environments, having no formal guidance opens the door to ill-informed, ineffective and sometimes inappropriate behaviour. The number of tribunals naming menopause has grown considerably since 2018. This trend is predicted to continue, especially if the recommendations in the afore mentioned government report come into being. Policies should be easy to access, guiding people to where they need to go and what they need to do to get support. They create a framework for managers and team members to follow, with a clear outline of what is on offer.
Workplace
While many organisations stop here, I believe this is a mistake. The physical workplace has much to contribute to ease peoples experience. They are the simple things, such as identifying where the cool and warm spots are and ensuring people are not isolated from their team should they choose to sit in a specifically thermally beneficial area. Are the lockers near the toilets so that people can freshen up easily and without a long embarrassing walk from one to the other. Is there free and usable sanitary ware in the loos? Obviously, this benefits all age groups, I am continuously surprised, that every organisation doesn’t do this already, today. Quite frankly it makes a huge difference at very little cost.
In today’s working world every organisation wants to be the employer of choice, where brilliant candidates line up to fill vacancies and where super experienced valuable employees choose to stay because of the opportunities and the inclusive culture. Menopause offers a chance for differentiation. There are hard business reasons to support women through this phase in life, which are available to those who invest and invest now. But above all it is quite simply the right thing to do.
References:
UK Parliament: Menopause and the workplace
By Kate Usher, Menopause Coach & Change Strategist.
Kate is an experienced Menopause Coach and Change Strategist with a specialism in gender equality. She works with women and organisations to create simple strategies that enable modern and supportive Menopause conversations. This increases awareness of this life phase, its pivotal impact on equality across the workforce and representation in senior and executive positions.
She is an internationally published author, her book ‘Your Second Phase – reclaiming work and relationships during and after Menopause’ is available in Europe, North America, South East Asia and Russia. It was also shortlisted for the Business Book of the Year Award 2021.
To contact Kate, please email kate@menopauseinbusiness.com
Originally Released On 06 September 2022