Is menopause a "women's issue" in your workplace?

Last week I had a conversation with an HR director who was keen to work with me but was struggling to find the budget because the board viewed creating a menopause friendly workspace as a “women’s issue”.

And so I thought it might be useful to elaborate on just a few of the ways that Menopause is a businesses issue, not just one for the ladies!

1 – Bottom line

Women are leaving their jobs because of their menopause symptoms, 1 in 10 of them, and with an estimated 4.3million women in this category, 1 in 10 is huge.

Perhaps they are losing confidence, feeling anxious, in pain, exhausted, struggling with continence, embarrassed by flushes etc. This list of symptoms is endless, but when there is no support in the place of business, women can feel unable to do their job or confidently show up in their role.

From a business perspective these resignations are catastrophic - the loss of valuable skills and experience, the cost of re-recruiting and the time investment into training.

Eg –if you have 100 women age 40+ in your business, 10 will resign due to their symptoms of menopause. With an average cost for recruiting a senior team member sitting at 6k, plus training at a further 6k – the cost to your business is £120,000. Can you afford not to invest in some support structures?

2 – Growing demographic

Women of menopausal age (40+) are the fastest growing demographic in the current day workforce. Not only does this mean a large potential loss to the business but also a difficult re-recruitment process without an appealing culture to attract new talent.

Creating a menopause friendly culture is not only valuable for your existing team but also a huge draw for future recruits.

3 – Gender pay gap

Organisations looking to close the gender pay gap may need to start looking at their menopause culture, because the need for women in senior roles to step down or not attempt promotion due to menopause means that the gender pay gap is actually widest in this demographic!

4 - Sick days

How is your business productivity? 14 million working days were lost to menopause last year alone.

Any successful board member will “know their numbers” so here are a few to share...

• One in 10 women have quit their jobs.
• Nine out of 10 menopausal women say their symptoms impact negatively on their work and ability to do their job
• One in four say they don’t feel supported by their manager

But knowing these stats and writing a policy isn’t enough, your policy won't reduce resignations, improve attendance or give your team confidence to show up in their roles...but real, tailored, actionable support systems will. If you’d like some help to implement these in your business, please do get in touch [email protected] or connect here