The stigma around menopause fades as women seek change at work

For Alison Martin-Campbell, the sweaty, sleepless nights were the worst aspect of being menopausal. She would wake, drenched, up to 20 times a night before blearily getting up to commute to EY, where she is a secretary in the accountancy firm’s corporate finance arm.

“I was really struggling to function during the day. I couldn’t concentrate, I was very clumsy. I was also triple checking all my work as I just didn’t trust myself,” she says, adding that thankfully she didn’t make any major mistakes even when she felt at her worst. “But it was exhausting.”

Two years ago, with no sign of her symptoms abating, she wrote a sheet of tips on how to cope with the menopause, which her then line manager suggested she circulated with colleagues. She was EY’s employee representative in a recent webinar about the menopause; 175 people tuned in.

She also heads EY’s 40+ Network, an informal group she created to help employees with age-related issues, including menopause. “I can offer colleagues a one-to-one chat, sharing my own experience and suggestions,” she says. “A lot of women say, ‘I thought I was going mad’. Just speaking to another person who knows what it’s like can be very helpful.”

Menopausal women are the fastest-growing demographic in work places across the UK, according to government figures. This is why companies are starting to consider how they can support employees who may be struggling with symptoms from hot flushes and brain fog to depression and a greater propensity for urinary tract infections.

Organisations advising businesses on creating specific guidelines or policies say interest from firms across the spectrum has exploded in the last three years. With more than 4.3m women over 50 in employment in the UK, companies are increasingly asking for help. This has prompted the UK’s workplace conciliation service, Acas, to publish guidance last month on how employers and managers should support menopausal staff.

“Women are going through menopause at work probably for the first time in our history,” says Sharon Vibert, who works for a consultancy called Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace. The organisation helps companies including HSBC, Sainsbury’s, Network Rail, Northumbrian Water and a variety of NHS Trusts to tackle the issue. Ms Vibert’s organisation held 51 workshops for companies in October alone.

“More women are in more senior positions, working full-time. Plus they are the sandwich generation, looking after older parents and young children. It’s the perfect storm,” she adds.

Sarah Churchman, head of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing at PwC, says the accountancy firm is retaining women who previously would have quit after having children. Around one in five of the firm’s partners are female; 15 years ago that figure was one in 20.

“It’s a success story that we’re talking about the menopause at work,” she adds. “Menopause has been the nub of jokes but there are serious consequences. We want [women] to be able to talk about any symptoms they’re experiencing and get the support they might need.”

PwC has stopped short of issuing specific menopause guidelines, preferring to rely on its existing wellbeing policy, in common with many other companies. The accountancy firm also recently released a webinar with guidance for line managers and posts regular stories about mental health featuring issues like the menopause on its internal news channel.

Encouraging people to talk about their experiences can help others in the same situation to seek help, Ms Churchman adds. She urges other organisations to talk about the business rationale for helping staff through a biological change that affects half the population.

“It’s still a slightly taboo topic but the more we talk about it the less taboo it becomes,” she says.

BNP Paribas is among those looking to change attitudes. “When people talk to me they lower their voice and whisper the word ‘menopause’. I am making it my mission to speak loudly around this. It needs to be OK for people to say they’re experiencing challenges and for team leaders to say they have people who need support, ” says Jane Ayaduray, the French bank’s UK head of diversity and inclusivity.

Claire Hardy, a lecturer in organisational health and well being at Lancaster University, is leading a project to assess the impact of adopting specific policies. “Is it enough to have a policy in place? Does that make any change? We don’t know.”

The challenge with a menopause policy versus a pregnancy policy is that the former is a fluid process, usually affecting women aged 45 to 55. One in 20 women are done with ovulating before they turn 45, according to the Daisy Network, a charity supporting women who experience early menopause.

“You can’t time stamp it, so it’s very difficult for women to pinpoint, ‘This is when my menopause started,’” adds Ms Vibert.

Some British MPs would like to see legislation to push through corporate reforms but not all female employees would welcome a formal approach.

“Some women fear it might be unhelpful to see women as going through an experience that may be difficult to manage for a period of time,” warns Dr Hardy.

Although three in four women typically experience some menopausal symptoms, NHS guidance suggests these will be severe only for one in four. Even when women do struggle, that doesn’t always impact their ability to do their job.

“We’ve found the number of hot flushes don’t relate to performance,” Dr Hardy adds, although the more severe the symptoms, the more likely a woman is to leave the workforce.

There is still a great deal of work to do. A recent poll by CIPD, the professional body for the HR industry, found just one in 10 companies offers women specific menopause support.

Lawyers predict companies will start adopting policies to avoid legal challenges. Last year an employment tribunal judge found in favour of Mandy Davies, a court officer working for the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Services who was dismissed after an incident involving medication she was taking to manage her menopause symptoms. Ms Davies alleged that under the 2010 Equality Act she had been unfairly dismissed and discriminated against as a result of a disability.

“More cases will start coming through if employees don’t feel supported,” says Jenny Arrowsmith, a partner at Irwin Mitchell who advises employers about issues arising over absence.

“I’ve heard stories of some comments made by colleagues such as, ‘Oh, she’s the hot and sweaty one.’ If they can tag those as being made because someone is going through menopause there is a sex and age discrimination case.”

Being open to different working patterns is a good starting point for any employer looking to be more supportive.

Flexing her hours got Ms Martin-Campbell through her menopause: after a particularly sleepless night she would work from home. She also switched to working 8am to 4pm to avoid the commuter crush and get a seat on her train because hot flushes made her light-headed and liable to faint. Even feeling she could escape the office for some fresh air helped. “It’s not the big things but it’s the supportive things,” she says.

“Women we interviewed for one research study told us they just wanted their line manager to ask if they were OK and to not make any assumptions. Often that is enough,” adds Dr Hardy.