Davina McCall’s ground-breaking series Sex, Myths and the Menopause shone a stark light on the overall lack of understanding and proactivity around menopause in the workplace.
During the series, the TV presenter described her own experience of feeling invisible and completely isolated at work. In addition, she went on to reveal how “52% of women lost their confidence at work due to the menopause, while a whopping 84% felt there was no one they could turn to in their workplace to help with their issues”.
And despite increasing narratives around menopause, government ministers decided in January 2023 against making the menopause a protected characteristic or piloting menopause leave.
This throws the ball firmly back into the courts of individual businesses, many of whom are looking for ways of navigating what is, after all, a perfectly normal, natural life stage. It impacts most of the 48.58% of the global population who are lucky enough to reach middle age. But surprisingly, some businesses are still struggling to get conversations started.
If your organisation is one of them, a menopause workshop is the ideal first step to normalising menopause in the workplace.
What Does a Menopause Workshop Involve?
A well thought out menopause workshop is designed to educate and inspire the whole team, by raising awareness and cultivating a supportive environment for colleagues and other stakeholders who are going through the menopause.
What’s more, it sets the scene for formalising an approach to menopause in the workplace and clarifying the support available to those who need it, which might include the introduction of things like:
- Absence policies
- Adaptions to dress code or uniforms
- Flexible working options
- Menopause support group
- Additional training for managers and / or workplace wellbeing managers
As law firm CM Murray’s Emma Bartlett explained to HR magazine: “By raising awareness through education, training and a menopause policy, employers will go some way to create a respectful environment for menopausal employees and mitigate the [tribunal] risk claims.”
At Stress Matters, we’ve recently added a new and improved menopause workshop to our existing portfolio of wellbeing workshops. It addresses the physical, emotional and mental impacts of the menopause, breaks down the myths and sheds light on the facts. Get in touch to equip your business to tackle menopause in the workplace in effective, empathetic and progressive ways.
