WHAT ROLE DO COLLEGES PLAY?

Colleges have an important role to play in ensuring that anyone experiencing menopausal symptoms gets the same support and understanding as if they had any other health issue.

Effective management of team members with menopausal symptoms that are impacting on their work will help to improve morale, retain a valuable balance of skills and talent, and reduce sickness absence. Good people management is fundamental to supporting health and wellbeing, spotting early signs of ill health or distress, and initiating early intervention.

While any health condition can understandably be a sensitive and personal issue for many, some of the symptoms associated with the menopause can manifest themselves in a particularly intimate, even invisible, way. It is therefore understandable why many women could feel embarrassed and reluctant to discuss the impact of their symptoms. Therefore, cultivate conversations with genuine interest using active listening and empathy. Colleges can help to create a supportive environment so that colleagues feel at ease and comfortable to discuss aspects that are bothering or concerning them.

Colleges should ensure:

• Adequate time is booked to have the conversation • An appropriate room is booked to preserve confidentiality. It may be that the room is booked in a different area/floor to where the individual sits, to avoid questions from other colleagues • Colleagues are encouraged to speak openly and honestly • This guide is given to colleagues so that they have details of how symptoms can be eased and where to go for further support • Appropriate adjustments are discussed. Simple changes to someone’s role or working environment can help to ensure the menopause does not become a barrier to performance. Colleges should consider and put in place reasonable adjustments to alleviate or remove these barriers wherever possible, so that people transitioning through menopause can carry on performing in their role.

Simple adjustments that could be made include: • Providing desk fans • Providing a ventilated space to sit (such as under air conditioning or by an open window) • Agreeing actions, how these will be implemented and timeframes for agreed implementations • Ensuring anything shared in the meeting is treated as confidential and is not shared with anyone without the individual’s prior consent. Any record made of the meeting should be stored securely • Booking in follow-up meetings with their colleague to check the agreed actions are having a positive impact and to check they feel supported. Experiences of the menopause can fluctuate over time, so make sure there are regular discussions with their colleague to ensure that the support still meets their needs • Someone’s health condition, including menopausal symptoms, should be treated as confidential.

If a colleague wants information about their condition to be shared, consent must be explicit. The discussions should include a conversation about who will be told and by whom, as well as the information they do or don’t want shared with colleagues