Turning up the heat on menopause and the workplace
05/22/2022
Similar to the Suffragette and equal pay movements, the issue of menopause at work started as a whisper and is now working its way up to a roar. Writing in 1991, Dr Philip M. Sarrel, MD, the current Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, stated that “there are almost no studies of work performance and the effects of menopausal symptoms or related disease conditions, yet there is reason to believe that many women are negatively affected.”
Thirty years have passed and thankfully the struggles many women face at work due to perimenopause and menopause symptoms are being brought to the fore and employers are recognising that this issue must be taken seriously, and support provided where and when it is needed.
There is still, however, much work to be done. A recent YouGov poll commissioned by Irwin Mitchell found that almost three-quarters (72%) of businesses surveyed did not have a menopause policy. A further 77% provided no training to line managers on menopause, with 44% stating they had not thought about it; 15% did not consider it a priority, and 7% claimed that sensitivities and embarrassment about the issue were holding them back. Finally, almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents said they did not consider menopause during performance reviews for female staff. As you will see below when we look at how menopause and perimenopause can impact a woman’s daily life, not considering it during performance reviews can place many workers at a significant disadvantage.
How menopause can affect working women
There are around 3.5 million women aged between 15 and 65 years currently in employment in the UK, meaning women now represent nearly half of the UK labour force. The average age a woman goes through menopause, defined as 12 months without menstruating, is 51 years. Perimenopause, however, can begin up to ten years before menopause. Perimenopause is the stage where female reproductive hormones such as oestrogen start to decline, and periods become irregular. Declining hormone levels can wreak havoc on the mental and physical health of some women, leaving them to deal with a variety of symptoms including:
- hot flushes
- night sweats
- insomnia
- irritability, anxiety, and depression
- brain fog
- vaginal dryness
- heavy, irregular periods
- fatigue
Some women are lucky enough to experience no perimenopause or menopause symptoms, others suffer from all of them with varying degrees of intensity.
Do women leave work because of menopause?
Unfortunately, they do. According to a recent survey of 2,000 women aged 45 to 67 across the UK, those experiencing symptoms stated that menopause was second only to having children in terms of events that have harmed their careers.
One woman told The Guardian:“My symptoms mean that being at work, without any support, is like torture. My joints are so painful that I can’t move without agony. My head is in such a muddle that I can’t keep two thoughts in it at the same time and the anxiety is so bad it wakes me up at night.”
Nearly three-quarters of the women who took part in the survey said their workplace provided no space or forum to enable them to discuss the challenges of menopause, leaving them feeling isolated and vulnerable.
How women are being supported
Despite the discouraging results from the aforementioned surveys, the evidence presented to the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), which is currently undertaking consultation concerning menopause and the workplace, is highlighting some positive points. For example, Claire McCartney, senior policy adviser (resourcing and inclusion) at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) told the WEC that their data suggests that supportive frameworks around menopause and the workplace are more likely to be found in the public and third sectors. She also highlighted that in 2019, the CIPD polled around 500 of their members, and discovered that fewer than one in ten at that time had any sort of supportive framework, menopause policy, or guidance in place. When the survey was replicated in 2021, the number had risen to 24%.
Ways employers can support women experiencing perimenopause and menopause
Below are some suggestions for developing a supportive framework around menopause and the workplace to ensure that you can retain experienced and talented employees, who without support may feel they have no choice but to resign.
- De-stigmatise menopause by talking about it openly in meetings, in organisation-wide communications, and one-to-one discussions.
- Train line managers on how to support staff who are experiencing symptoms that are affecting their wellbeing and work. This should include guidance on talking and listening with sensitivity.
- Offer reasonable adjustments to women experiencing symptoms. This could include flexible working, reduced workloads, and adjusting the temperature in certain areas of the premises.
- Look at practical ways of providing support, for example making sure there is a space where employees can rest if needed, ensuring toilets and bathroom facilities are accessible, providing cool drinking water, and adjusting the material and fit of uniforms if they are exasperating an employee’s experiences of dry skin and hot flushes.
- Provide a central point of contact for people to discuss menopause-related matters.
Before implementing these and other support measures you will need to conduct a health and safety risk assessment to understand what is needed in your particular organisation.
Final words
In 1971 only 32% of high income OECD countries had legislation in place prohibiting the dismissal of pregnant workers. That figure is now 100%. This is not to say that women have succeeded in the fight against maternity discrimination – in 20% of economies around the world women have no legal recourse if they are fired for being pregnant. What it does illustrate, however, is that like maternity rights, rights associated with perimenopause and menopause can and will be developed. What is needed now is open conversations and a commitment to de-stigmatise menopause. Supporting menopause in the workplace will benefit everyone.
As Hilary Clinton once said – “Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.”
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of these court updates, these articles are intended as a general overview and not intended, and should not be used, as a substitute for taking legal advice in any specific situation. Neither Zurich Municipal, nor any member of the Zurich group of companies, will accept any responsibility for any actions taken or not taken on the basis of these articles.
