Let's de-taboo menopause.

There are many taboos when it comes to women’s health. And talking about them in the context of the workplace raises more than just eyebrows, it can attach a stigma to anyone brave enough to voice them. Despite 50% of the population being deeply impacted by topics such as menstruation, fertility and infertility, pelvic health, and the menopause, we’re told it’s best not to mention them because it makes “people uncomfortable” or it’s “not appropriate” in the workplace.

Which people? And where, please tell me, would it be more appropriate?

Surely talking about how health topics impact women in their daily work and career trajectories, alongside discussing the adjustments required in organisations to support women navigating these subjects, is a good thing? Yet instead, it’s much more likely for a company to push these topics (that are a natural part of life) under the proverbial carpet, isolating women in their anxiety and shame rather than doing the hard but important work of adapting their environments to welcome women and help them be successful at all stages of life.?

By far one of the biggest taboos that is chronically misunderstood and under-discussed is the menopause. Menopause typically begins between the ages of 45 and 55, coinciding with the time women are most likely to move into top leadership positions (the average age of a CEO hired in the US is 54).

Oh, it’s also when family demands from children and parents collide and pile up. Talk about timing.?

And it matters more than ever given the demographic transformation in the makeup of companies. Women of menopausal age are the fastest growing demographic (GenM). Women over the age of 45 represent 45% of women in the US workforce, meaning that close to half of all working women in the US are going through the menopause.

And it has a BIG impact on a woman’s experience at work. A recent study by Evernow of 2,000 women in the US aged 45-60 revealed that 85% of women have felt the menopause impacted their work productivity or satisfaction and a significant 60% admitted to curbing their career ambitions (for example passing up promotions, retiring early or resigning) due to symptoms. 1 in 10 women admit they left their jobs due to symptoms.?

This is a loss of talent and experience on a huge scale, and costs the US $26.6 billion annually (Forbes); $1.8bn of this is attributed to lost working time. In 2022, research undertaken by the UK menopause support app Balance estimated $12.15 billion in menopause-related business losses in the UK. Bloomberg puts worldwide menopause-related productivity losses at over $150 billion a year.

As Bradley Schurman and Tamsen Fadal state in their Harvard Business Review article entitled “How companies can support employees experiencing menopause” (2024) “menopause is not an emotional issue that employers can simply wave off, but a serious medical condition that threatens workplace operations.”

One of the reasons menopause is such a taboo is the shocking lack of education and awareness of the topic. If you ask anyone about the menopause they’d likely raise the fact it affects “older” women and involves “hot flushes” for a couple of months. This is simplistic at best. Even the medical discipline struggles with the complexities of the topic: it’s been noted that Ob-gyns receive as little as 6 hours of menopause training during their 4 year residency.?

The reality is that women can experience symptoms - both cognitive, physical and psychological - for an entire decade starting before their mid-40s. During menopause, 70% of women rate at least one symptom as “severe” or more. The most common symptoms are those hot flushes but also muscular aches, headaches, anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues, heart palpitations, skin breakouts, changing body shape, and poor concentration. This inability to focus, sitting as it does alongside the confluence of other symptoms, has impacted women’s perceptions of - and engagement with - their work.?

I have to pause here and admit that I - like the majority of people out there apparently - am woefully uninformed about the menopause. But reading the stories of women impacted with severe symptoms brought it to life for me:??

“The memory is still vivid. Head in hands, tears streaming down my face, skin itchy, head throbbing, the sweat of my body causing my new outfit to stick to me. I felt humiliated, depressed and as if I was failing in a job I loved. That’s what menopause can do. It can play havoc with you and how you perform at work, mix with colleagues, and relate to friends and family. For too long, the menopause has turned people like me into victims, when all that’s happening is totally natural” Lisa Masis, Key Account Manager, Bristol Myers Squibb.?

Unfortunately half of all women feel that their menopausal health and wellness is overlooked or ignored by their employer.

A report by Gen M shows that 32% of men have never had a conversation about menopause.?

We’re ignoring a topic that the data shows we need to urgently talk about.?

At the same time, almost half of all women in the UK don’t feel comfortable about talking about their menopausal status at work for fear of repercussions, negative stereotypes and judgement. Hardly surprising. A 240 person study undertaken by the Liberal Arts Professor of industrial-organisational psychology at The Pennsylvania State University showed that women exhibiting a visible hot flash were not regarded as credible leaders by their co-workers.?

Given the above, it’s perhaps unsurprising that many women are choosing to leave the workforce due to the shame, discrimination and lack of support. .?

So what can we do about this? How can we keep talented experienced women in the workforce and engender psychologically safe environments where women can feel supported through menopause, rather than side-lined because of it?

1. Normalise talking about it. There’s nothing unusual about menopause so it should become part of our daily conversations, with open discussion encouraged on the topic. Leaders can act as role models and openly talk about the topic - sharing their vulnerability - to encourage others to copy them.
2. Educate and spread awareness. There is so much misinformation and confusion over menopause that it’s important to ensure your workforce is sharing accurate information and training or enabling managers to have the right conversations with their teams and individuals impacted.
3. Create flexibility for women. Safe spaces, rest rooms, adjusted working hours, job sharing, remote or hybrid working options and anonymised sick days can all give women more opportunities to take breaks when their symptoms are strong. Allowing women to also control their micro-environment, whether it’s a more comfortable desk set up or enabling them to control the temperature of their environment can also be beneficial
4. Support Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). This can raise awareness and empower change from within your organisation.?Because who knows better what support is needed than those needing the support.
5. Hard no to bias and discrimination. This one needs no explanation.?

As Professor Dame Professor Dame Lesley Regan DBE MD DSc FRCOG , Chair of Wellbeing of Women puts it: “Employers can play a key and important role in helping women to manage their health and wellbeing at this stage in life. By doing so, organisations can help to ensure a gender-equal working environment, support women to reach their potential and benefit from the enormous expertise and experience that they contribute to the workplace.”?

Sounds good to me.