Menopause in the workplace - What's going wrong?

This World Menopause Day I want to celebrate how far we’ve come.

Thanks to warrior women such as Dr Louise Newton, Gaby Logan, Davina McCall, Dr Naomi Potter and countless others, menopause is no longer a thing women have to “just get on with”. Instead, society is better informed, and the previously tabooed whisper of this natural change in women, has been plugged in and turned up on loudspeaker. HR policies have been created and wellbeing resources put into place as organisations are starting to understand, show compassion, and proactively support menopausal employees to thrive.

Yet statistics highlight that 1 in 10 women still leave the workplace because of the symptoms of perimenopause/menopause. This begs the question - what’s going wrong?

There’s no doubt that organisations are still figuring out what they’re doing to support women experiencing the symptoms of peri-/menopause. This makes sense - change takes time and, although there is no excuse for those who are sitting doing nothing, there is going to be a period of adjustment as businesses understand, then create, then implement a supportive wellbeing model.

But one of the main reasons, i believe, we’re still seeing ambitious brilliant women step back - or out - from their careers, is fear.

Our brains are clever. If we perceive there is any threat to us, our brains do everything they can to deter us from moving towards that threat. Makes sense.

Say a woman has symptoms of brain fog, insomnia, increased anxiety, and hormonal fluctuations that ensure they feel the very opposite of their best self. We can assume that it’s highly unlikely they are then going to feel confident and positive about telling the world they are peri-/menopausal. The very thought of telling their manager ignites that itty bitty shitty committee in their heads that tells them every reason under the sun why it’s the wrong thing to do. Fear of being made redundant, seen as weak, not coping, or being replaced, makes women keep shhtump.

And so they turn up to work each day, putting their game faces on and pretending they’re “absolutely fine”.  Managers, colleagues, or the audiences they are presenting to, remain blissfully unaware of the psychological turmoil the individual in front of them is experiencing. The reality is that millions of women in the UK are feeling extremely unsettled, anxious, and vulnerable.

Imagine that kind of pressure - every day - for months and years.  It’s just not sustainable. And so women leave. Capable, future leading, brilliant women, they leave.  Or they reduce their hours. Or they don’t satisfy that beating urge to get promoted.

We need to solve this problem and enable women to feel safe to bring their whole selves to work and to know, confidently, that they will be ok.

What can you do?

• Create psychological safety – I know, easier said than done. But to get started, go to those that have been brave enough to share that they are peri-/menopausal and ask them what they needed in order to feel safe to be open. If you don’t know anyone, go onto a menopause forum and ask the women on there for their input. What patterns do you see? How do you replicate this within your organisation?

• Role model vulnerability – encourage a leader in the organisation to do a talk about or share an interview about something in their personal life that they’ve struggled with. And don’t let it stop there - how do you keep that flow of communication around menopause, or fertility, or caring for an elderly parent, or loss, or illness, on a continuous loop so that openness and sharing the load is ingrained in your organisation’s DNA?

• Don’t let your focus on menopause in the workplace only feature on World Menopause Day.

What else will you do?

*a quick goggle image search for ‘menopausal women’ and i was graced with this tracksuit wearing legend. Obviously she is the epitomy of those moving through peri-/menopause. It’s uncanny.