LAST UPDATE | 14 Oct 2023
World Menopause Day is on 18 October this year and the aim is to improve the knowledge of menopause for women experiencing this phase of their lives, their loved ones and their employers.
Menopause can be debilitating for some women and a non-event for others but those who suffer from a number of symptoms often tell of how they have had to hide these experiences from employers and colleagues. A recent study by The Menopause Hub and IBEC found that one in 10 women in menopause are leaving the workforce due to their symptoms.
Advocates for women in the workplace are asking employers to address this issue and put policies in place to empower and support their female staff. Here, Loretta Dignam from The Menopause Hub outlines exactly what employers can do for employees in menopause and Eimear Scully of Medical Supply Company gives her perspective as an employer and a woman with her own symptoms…
THROUGH OUR CLINICS we hear from women every day about how menopause impacts them at home and at work. And from our training with organisations all over the country, we hear first-hand how difficult many women find the menopause transition at work.
The symptoms, particularly cognitive, result in women checking and double-checking their work, causing them to doubt themselves and their ability, such that they lose confidence and start to think about leaving work entirely.
The age of 45-55 is often when women move into more senior roles and take on more responsibility, the exact age that their hormones start to go haywire and symptoms arise.
Women tell us that they step back from promotion, reduce their hours or simply leave.
This makes me sad and angry. Sad that such competent and capable women can feel like this and angry that so many women are still suffering in silence. But things are finally changing for the better. I have been shouting from the rooftops in an effort to break the taboo that surrounds menopause.
There are 40+ symptoms of menopause, which affect women psychologically, emotionally, physically and genitourinary and which can also impact relationships and sex life.
Around 80% of women will experience symptoms and one-third will experience severe or debilitating symptoms.
Generations before us of menopausal women could most likely manage troublesome symptoms at home, whereas with the increased level of female participation in the workplace, menopause is more public now. Menopausal women who work with male colleagues or younger colleagues report being embarrassed and feeling stigmatised at work. In fact, research shows around 70% believe that there is a stigma associated with menopause at work. When I was experiencing my hot flushes at work (20-30 a day) I found it challenging to hide and uncomfortable with how obvious they were to others. I didn’t dare mention menopause!
According to the latest Census, there are now 651,845 menopausal and perimenopausal women in Ireland in the 45-64 year age group, of whom 64% are in employment, an increase of 27% since the last Census in 2016. Female workforce participation continues to grow.
From our annual Menopause in the Workplace Survey, 85% of women said that menopause was negatively affecting their performance, while 81% said they did not feel comfortable discussing the issue with their line manager.
Women tell us that the top five symptoms that impact them when working are:
Last year almost 40% who took part in our survey said that they considered quitting work, whereas 11% actually left their jobs. In a talent-tight market where we have near full employment, employers cannot afford to lose experienced and skilled talent. However, we are the last generation to put up with this.
An overwhelming majority of the 1,087 women (84%) surveyed in 2022 said that menopause awareness training for managers and HR bosses was required. And over 9-% wanted a menopause policy.
Practically speaking, employers can offer reasonable accommodations and reasonable adjustments to their staff, for example, adjustments to temperature control (air-con, fans, window seating), uniforms (material, design, number of pieces), more frequent breaks, access to bathrooms and changing rooms, free sanitary products in bathrooms, rest areas, flexible working, cameras off on video meetings if necessary, time off for medical appointments.
At the end of the day, menopause symptoms affect each woman differently, so the individual is best placed to advise on what they need.
Women tell us that it’s a relief to be able to normalise the topic and have managers to talk to who don’t feel embarrassed and are empathetic, rather than have inappropriate jokes or comments.
We at the Menopause Hub offer CPD-accredited blended training modules (live and e-learning) aimed at all colleagues, line managers and supervisors, HR and Menopause Champions. We also work on policy development. We have worked with the Medical Supply Company, An Post, Bank of Ireland, Lidl, Pernod Ricard, Indeed, UCD, Uisce and many more to help make their workplaces menopause friendly. In fact, this week, we announced the inaugural Menopause Workplace Excellence Awards winners.
Awareness training for managers and colleagues is a great place to start in the normalising of menopause policies in the workplace. The introduction of menopause champions, similar to mental health first aiders, is a brilliant next step, as they are peer-to-peer support who can signpost, offer a listening ear and embed menopause into the culture of the organisation.
The health and well-being of all staff members at our company have always been a top priority for us. As CEO of any company, you have a duty of care to ensure that staff members are supported fully in order to fulfil their role to the best of their ability. I like to ensure that all of our policies are current and workable. Our menopause policy is no different.
As a woman in my 40s myself I was becoming aware of the menopause and the impact it was having on my own life.
I was frightened at how out of control I felt within my own body at times, this was a new experience and one I wasn’t used to. When we pushed through our menopause policy in the workplace, I was knee-deep in my own symptoms and I can testify to just how challenging the whole thing was at the time.
I feel very lucky that I am at this point in my life at a time when information is readily available on the topic. Our mothers and grandmothers did not have this information. Every day there are more articles or studies, podcasts, books and documentaries about menopause and ultimately, that can only be a good thing for the empowerment of women.
Suddenly, I found myself at a point when my own experience converged with all the new information out there regarding wellbeing in the workplace and I felt it was important that I brought in a culture of understanding around menopause to my staff.
The one thing that struck me from my research was the amount of women who felt they had no choice but to exit the workforce at this time of their lives. Menopause can be utterly debilitating for so many women and I can fully understand why someone would do this.
Going through menopause myself, I had been hit with the crippling brain fog that comes with it and it really impacted my work day.
I found myself one day sitting around a boardroom table wondering if I would ever again remember the word for profit (this being a word a CEO should never forget!). Since I have known all our staff for so many years, I had the benefit of not being judged by my colleagues when I hit these menopausal stumbling blocks and they supported me 100%.
With this in mind and however small my platform is I felt compelled to use my own influence to try to do things differently as an employer. I wanted to be a voice for those women who leave their careers simply because the right supports were not in place. My main aim was to break the stigma surrounding menopause and to promote a culture where all employees could feel confident in discussing menopausal issues and asking for support.
I first brought up the subject at a Department Head Meeting to see what other senior managers thought of this approach. It’s one thing to implement wellbeing practices as an employer that are once removed from you personally but when it came to menopause, this was part of my own story, so it was a little more challenging to approach.
Normally, presentations and speeches don’t phase me but thanks to my other prevalent perimenopausal symptom of anxiety, I found that first talk difficult.
However, I powered through and once the chat started I was amazed at how open and engaged my team of managers were. We decided to get the experts in to teach us all how to approach this as a policy best so we brought Loretta Dignam in for a presentation. Loretta was the perfect person to engage all our staff and simply explain what menopause is, how it impacts women and their families and colleagues and why it matters. We have employees of all ages at MSC, both men and women and I was a little worried that many of them would be looking at one another on the day and thinking ‘why are we here for this, we’re never going to be in menopause’ but that really wasn’t the case.
Loretta was able to explain that whether a woman or a man, menopause will affect us all in some way and we all need to support each other through this transition.
Since that day we have formalised our Menopause Policy and I am delighted to say this is no longer a taboo subject around the corridors of our company. I have thankfully gotten hold of my own menopause symptoms and I’m coming out the other side. The experience has made me more determined to assist other women in any way possible. Menopause should not mean the end of you as a woman thriving in your life, in your career and it’s crucial that employers realise that women in this phase of their lives deserve all the support we can give them.
Women in menopause are not sick but they are facing unprecedented changes in their lives, both physically and mentally and that is something employers should be aware of and respectful of. Menopause isn’t forever and it would be such a shame for companies to lose great staff because of a lack of understanding of a challenging time in a woman’s life.
Loretta Dignam is the Founder & CEO of The Menopause Hub. Eimear Scully is CEO of Medical Supply Company (MSC).
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