Menopause is a diversity issue. Companies lose women at senior levels if they don’t have menopause support built into their policy.

Every year on October 18th, World Menopause Day is observed.

The goal of the day is to increase awareness of the menopause and the resources available to help women improve their health and wellbeing. It’s also a day for the men in our lives to learn about how menopause affects the likes of their sisters, wives, mothers, daughters and female colleagues.

Menopausal women are the UK’s fastest growing working group, according to the ONS. However, many businesses lack assistance for the debilitating symptoms of menopause and failure to support staff could actually lead to legal action. In the UK, there are over 5 million working women aged 40 to 55, and it is estimated that 80 percent of these women may experience menopause symptoms while at work. Employers should be aware of the impact of the menopause on their employees and take steps to help them, leading by example.

The following are examples of current best practices:

• Encourage employees to develop informal women’s support networks
• Implement policies for menopause-related absence
• Provide a robust guidance on changes to help women who are experiencing menopause symptoms at work.

For most women, menopause is a natural process that occurs somewhere between the ages of 40 and 58, although some will go into premature menopause or have induced menopause at an earlier age. Therefore, it’s important that a progressive and innovative approach to both menopause education and menopause support and implementation is prioritised in order to support your staff.

If you want to find out more about our friendly and supportive Menopause Training for Managers and Menopause Awareness for Teams, get in touch with us at Digital Bricks.

Find out more at: Very Well Health – an overview of menopause