Managing Menopause at Work

5 minute read

Menopause is a natural phase in midlife. It signals a new chapter; a fresh beginning. We know this – even if the prospect of it doesn’t exactly thrill us. We speak about it extensively at Heyday, how normal, day-to-day functions essential for wellbeing – like a decent night’s sleep – is no longer a given with your hormones running awry (and that’s only one symptom out of 34).

Menopause can affect women in different ways – some may not experience many symptoms but for others, physical and psychological symptoms including forgetfulness, hot flushes, poor sleep, anxiety, low mood, and poor concentration can all have a significant effect on your working day. Perimenopause, in particular, is difficult in that you might not realise that you are in it if your symptoms are psychological; anxiety, loss of confidence and problems concentrating – you may think, for example, it’s a form of work anxiety.

Yet, if menopause is as natural in midlife as night and day (which it is), why do we feel we must hide our symptoms at work? Because this is what many women feel they must do, according to a new study on the subject. A third of women who have suffered symptoms of menopause say they hid them at work, according to more than 5,000 women in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and South Africa.

As part of the research for Vodafone, they were interviewed about their experiences of menopause at work and 50% found (sadly, not unusually) that there remains a stigma around talking about the subject, according to the survey. This stigma and a lack of support in a working environment were two main takeaways from the study – 64% of women agreed there should be more workplace support for women. Shame is also a topic that came up; 43% of those in the UK who experienced debilitating menopause symptoms admitted feeling too embarrassed to ask for this support in the workplace.

Interestingly, the findings did vary, depending on what country the participant lived in. South African women seemed most comfortable discussing the subject with colleagues, with only 37% saying they thought there was a stigma, while in Italy the proportion who said they had hidden symptoms was lowest at just 28%.

There are myriad reasons why women may not feel they can discuss symptoms openly; some fear being considered less able or productive, while others may have a manager they don’t feel able to approach or some simply don’t want to. Regardless, Career Psychologist, Sinéad Brady, says the work environment should be made comfortable enough so that open conversations can be had.

“I would suggest to employers that menopause forms the part of a larger conversation about women's health within the workplace,” Sinéad said. “So if women are not in a position to talk about their health, in the context of their life stage, about menopause, for, example, there needs to be a way to get around that in the office.”

Employers have a responsibility, she continues, to normalise the narrative. “As managers, we need to be really proactive and share support and information. So I always say to staff, send around an email on Wellness Wednesday, for example, that has different pieces of content in it each week. And one of those weeks, it could be focused on women's health. And part of that is simply saying: ‘We have resources on our Wellness Hub or Wellness Centre that focuses on menopause.; And just gradually allow it to become part of the accepted social narrative.”

In other words, the onus shouldn’t be on us to ask for support due to menopause or even “extra” facilities such as time off or leave – it should be a given - part of the company culture that is simply there from the get-go.

In this way, Vodafone has it right. This week, they announced they would be rolling out a training and awareness programme to all employees globally. This will include a toolkit focusing on raising understanding of menopause and providing guidance on how to support employees, colleagues and family members.

The initiative, they said, reflects “our desire for women to see Vodafone as the place to be for their career through all stages of their life.”

Kudos to them. Progress is good to see.