By Kathleen Riach
Menopause and Menstruation are increasingly being discussed in the workplace. But the benefits of supporting women’s health at work go far beyond a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion agenda and can be a litmus test for how ambitious, proactive, and sustainable your workforce strategy is.
Around 47 million women reach menopause each year[1], while around 1.8 million women menstruate monthly[2]. These women are part of a workforce that contributes over $12 trillion dollar to the world economy.
While a majority will continue to participate and engage in work during menstruation and through menopausal transition, some will experience symptoms or related conditions that are exacerbated by inhospitable organizational cultures, structures and environments. The effects of these barriers, combined with other life course inequalities including gendered ageism, caring responsibilities, uneven ownership of assets and women being disproportionately located in lower paid sectors, collectively impact women’s economic wellbeing and future financial security[3].
However, instead of treating best practice menopause and menstruation support as an isolated initiatives, evidence may also serve as a blueprint for sustaining a healthier and more resilient workforce overall.
Menopause and Menstruation as a gateway to a healthier workplace for all
Menopause and Menstruation are part of the reproductive life cycle of people assigned female at birth. Many employees go through their working lives with minimal disruption from menopause or menstruation or prefer not to disclose to their employer what they perceive as a private individual experience.
However, consideration of menopause and menstruation at work is increasingly likely to form part of an employer’s duty of care. This may arise through discrimination and equality legislation, or through health and safety regulations that require employers to proactively identify, mitigate and remove workplace risks for all employees, regardless of gender, age or health condition.
Beyond statutory compliance, sensitising the workplace to consider menopause and menstruation can also lead to generating awareness of the dynamics that prevent a healthy workforce more broadly in a number of ways.
First, menopause and menstruation highlight how stigma and the historical problematisation of women’s bodies impacts how employees are problematised or dismissed in the workplace. But it also brings to light how people at work are generally reticent to discuss anything to do with bodies as signals of weakness or vulnerability. This broader organizational stigma around denying the fallibility of the body not only prevents disclosure of other health conditions but can prevent timely and effective support being accessed to help employees continue to work.
Second, menopause provides a way of considering how intersectional inequalities impact employee experience and engagement. Menopause and menstruation are part of a gendered-ageist perception where women are viewed as ‘never the right age’[4]. Extending this awareness to how other intersectional inequalities come together and manifest can also help to unlock broader considerations of how age, socioeconomic status and background and ethnicity are considered in workforce health strategies.
Finally, symptoms that are related to menopause or menstruation can often last for several years, with some menstrual conditions, such as endometriosis (where endometrium-like tissue that is usually only located in the uterus grows outside the uterus[5]) being classified as long-term chronic conditions. Evidence similarly suggests that other long-term health conditions disproportionately account for absence, labour market exit and long-term unemployment or de facto retirement[6][7]. Tackling long-term health conditions in work thus requires a similar mindset to menopausal and menstrual health support through requiring bold solutions around how workplaces provide longer-term support in a way that works for both employer and employee.
Five ways to start – or improve – your workplace menopause and menstrual support strategy
If embedding support for menopausal and menstrual health can bring benefits for all, what are the best ways to enable and facilitate this support that result in positive outcomes for both business and employees?
A growing body of research and evidence is emerging that provides clear and accessible guidelines around best practice. This includes forthcoming ISO guidelines[8] on menopause and menstruation at work and European Menopause and Andropause guidelines for managers[9]. In general, guidance includes the following recommendations:
- Audit how menopause and menstruation can be considered across your organization: While Human resource and people management functions might be central to the rollout of policy and practice, audit how functions such as health and safety, facilities and logistics, and operations have an important role to play in ensuring that processes or built environments do not inadvertently create barriers. For example, how easy is it for employees to control room temperature, access fans or heat pads without having to complete fire regulation exemptions or wait lists for electrical testing?
- Make your organization a conduit for accurate and evidence-based health information: Menopause and Menstruation are part of an increasingly commercial landscape where solutions are often supported by spurious or inaccurate claims from bodies that stand to benefit financially. Similarly, research has highlighted how the health-seeking behaviours involving AI platforms result in misinformation, mistrust and cynicism that has profound effects of health outcomes. In this landscape, workplaces have the potential to be a conduit for individuals accessing credible and accurate health information that is created by credible bodies including professional bodies (such as the CIPD), national menopause societies (such as European Menopause and Andropause Society), and the World Health Organization. Initiatives may also include training and education or awareness sessions for staff and managers
- Resource your supervisors and line managers: Research has shown that high levels of supervisory support are independently associated with lower menopause symptom reporting[10]. We are not suggesting that line managers can physiologically change menopause or menstrual health experiences nor should they be making any health-related assessments. Rather this highlights the value of well-trained supervisors who feel confident and empowered to talk about menopause and menstruation and can be custodians of a positive culture change. Making sure that both time and practical resources are available to managers will allow to flexible and proactive solutions to be put in place before absence or retention become a challenge.
- Scale local solutions: The chances are best practice already exists in your organization but is being implemented by employees or managers locally, informally or even in secret for fear of not complying with formal policy. Find ways to share local solutions that do not compromise confidentiality but showcase practical solutions around disclosure and privacy, flexible working, job design, and adjustments support menopause or menstrual-related symptoms.
- Mainstream access to menopause and menstrual health practices: The final one is perhaps the most counterintuitive: you do not necessarily have to have specific menopause and menstruation policies and actions. Rather than creating isolated or niche policies, implement person-centred interventions that can support symptoms while remaining available to the entire workforce. This inclusive approach ensures support is provided without making any one group feel singled out or stigmatised.
What’s next?
Recognising and supporting menopause and menstruation in the workplace is an important first step in creating an engaged and healthy workforce for women. But it can also provide a roadmap for how we begin to recognise and resource the healthier working lives more broadly. The stories of success or failure of menopause and menstruation support highlight a crucial point: until we tackle the inhospitable, outdated and unrealistic assumptions we hold about changing bodies across longer working lives, we will continue to lose vital talent and experience from our workforces.
Kathleen Riach
