Monday, 18th October was World Menopause Day and an opportunity to highlight this important topic.

Women are the fastest growing demographic in the workforce and with one in three of the workforce now over 50 it is inevitable that you will have workers who are impacted by the menopause.

As an employer we have all seen how a lack of candidates available to recruit has negatively affected business and that is likely to increase as there are fewer new entrants from education – so we need to look after the employees we have!

As an employer, you might assume that menopause only affects “women of a certain age” but actually it could affect all your workforce in some way at some point. How much more positive and supportive would it be to be informed so that rather than feel awkward or embarrassed, you could have a conversation with your employees about this?

An employer recently told me about one of his male employees who was struggling at work – he was one of their best employees and they were worried about his health. On talking to him they found out that his wife was going through the menopause and was finding that she couldn’t sleep at night – it meant that both of them were experiencing broken sleep and both were affected. The employer was able to have a conversation with this employer, to reassure him and sign post him to some resources, as well as making some temporary adjustments to make things easier.

The direct symptoms of menopause may only be experienced by some, but the indirect impact could affect partners, children or co-workers because most of us have mums, sisters, aunts or work colleagues who may be experiencing menopause – it certainly makes one realise its important for us all to be informed and aware.

Menopause has been one of those “taboo” subjects for so long but over the last few years, we are learning more about how menopause can affect women. Given that females represent approximately 51% of the population the fact that we are only now just learning about it seems incredible. However, “we are where we are” as my Mum would say and fortunately there is now so much more information available so that we can be informed.

From an employee’s perspective, there are many symptoms of menopause, not just the obvious ones like hot flushes and different women will experience menopause in different ways. The important first step is to find reliable information; the Menopause Doctor is an excellent first place for information and Dr Louise Newson has a helpful excellent checklist that can be used to help you have a positive discussion with your GP; she also has the Balance app which is free and can help you track your symptoms. Further information can be found at https://www.balance-menopause.com/ (Dr. Newson also offers free training for GP’s who feel they need to know more about menopause).

From an employer’s point of view, being open about the issues that affect your workforce is important; it enables people to talk about the issues. I’m sure most employers will have regular communication or staff noticeboards where important information can be shared; in addition, you will be having team meetings or manager briefings – all of these are opportunities to start the conversation – not least by offering advice to your managers about how to respond if one of their team wants to talk about menopause – either for themselves or because they are being affected by it in other ways.

“Henpicked” have an excellent checklist to see how menopause friendly your organisation is as well as a poster for your noticeboards that can help start the conversations. You can find useful resources at https://menopauseintheworkplace.co.uk/articles/menopause-and-work-its-important/

Organisations are being encouraged to have menopause policies – the first step should be to talk to your employees and find out what would be helpful – if you need advice or help to write a policy contact me at sue@eastdevonhr.co.uk

I appreciate that talking about certain subjects is embarrassing – heaven forbid that anyone should mention the “p” word when I first started in HR and now we’re having to get use to the “m” word – trust me, it gets easier the more you talk about it. My sincere hope is that our daughters will have a much easier journey with menopause as a result of the conversations that we are having now.

As ever, if you are concerned about any health issues, contact your GP or NHS 111 for advice.