Open Editor's Digest for free
Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Should menopause be classified as a disability or a normal life stage? This argument arose last month when the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission warned employers they must make “reasonable adjustments” for menopausal employees who experience serious symptoms or risk being sued for disability discrimination.
The Lancet medical journal fanned the flames by suggesting “it's time to have a sensible conversation about menopause” – words that could be seen as tantamount to telling women to calm down.
Menopause has featured on employers' agendas, encouraged by a growing acceptance that issues that were once private, such as mental health, are having an impact on working life. It is also part of what Deborah Jermaine, an academic at the University of Roehampton, calls the “menopausal turn” in wider culture, where activists, including celebrity activists, have sought to break taboos, highlight gaps in healthcare, and guide others to identify people who Suffering from menopause. Their problems and ask for help.
Perimenopause and menopause (which begins a year after menstruation stops) are triggered by falling levels of progesterone and estrogen, which women typically experience between the ages of 45 and 55, but can occur earlier.
Increasing numbers of employers are offering help through menopause ambassadors, apps and professionals who can advise on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and help identify and relieve symptoms that include brain fog, hot flashes and insomnia. A report by consultancy Mercer, published this year, found that 22 per cent of employers offer menopause support, and 54 per cent plan to do so in the next two years.
Tips and adaptations in the workplace, such as temperature control, flexible working and quiet rooms, can make a difference for menopausal women, who, according to CIPD, say the most common symptoms are feeling “less able to concentrate and more focused”. “. “From stress.” Talking about this issue shines a spotlight not only on those experiencing symptoms, but also on those who support their colleagues, friends and families. This could fill gaps in public healthcare provision.
Some employers offer health care counselors who can prescribe HRT; Timpson, the UK retailer, compensates employees for this. Grocer Tesco is allowing leave due to symptoms outside of sick leave accounts. Bank of Ireland offers menopause leave of up to 10 days.
But some initiatives amount to “menu washing”: posters in the cafeteria won't do anything if the line manager is hostile. According to the CIPD, 41 per cent of those who miss work fail to mention menopausal symptoms because they worry it will affect how their performance is perceived, while 34 per cent said their manager will not be supportive. A report by Bank of America found that “a lot [US] Employers say they offer menopause-related benefits while only a third of employees say they are aware of the benefits. It also highlighted the gap between the 76 percent of HR benefits managers who say they discuss menopause-related issues with employees and the 3 percent of female employees who say they talk about menopause with HR.
There is a fine line between creating awareness, which is positive, and exacerbating stigma, which is not. Belinda Stephan, a consulting fellow at the University of Edinburgh Business School, says that one in three women she speaks to, one, usually working in a male-dominated sector, is worried that menopause will become “another stick to beat them with”.
Stefan warns that “raising awareness about what menopause does to the body” can inadvertently reinforce stigma. “Not all women want to talk about menopause in the workplace,” she adds. Older women and those working in male-dominated industries are often hesitant.
The workplace is generally designed around the ideal worker who is “not burdened by physical or domestic needs,” Stefan says. A menopausal body doesn't necessarily fit that. She says it's further complicated by the “chaos of midlife,” when women juggle work, children and aging parents. .
She suggests that employers encourage an open workplace culture. “This opens the door for people with other health and wellbeing concerns to seek help, taking the focus away from menopause. A menopause-friendly employer tends to be an overall good employer in terms of supporting a range of health and wellbeing concerns.”
