IT’S TIME TO TALK ABOUT MENOPAUSE

THIS PAGE: TALKING ABOUT MENOPAUSE IN THE WORKPLACE CAN REDUCE STIGMA AND ENCOURAGE WOMEN TO SPEAK UP ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.

Many women will experience menopause while they are in the workforce. How can businesses start the conversation to provide better support?

Words: Lauren Lefever

According to researchers at the Australian Menopause Society, the symptoms of menopause are becoming worse and worse, which directly affects menopausal women while they are at work. These symptoms can be often misdiagnosed as mental illness or other conditions, and can severely impact attendance and productivity.

As many women will experience menopause while they are of working age, it is vital to acknowledge the challenges they face in the workplace due to their menopausal symptoms.

Starting The Conversation

Menopause is the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle, and happens to every woman at some point in her life. In Australia, more than 80 per cent of women experience mild to harsh menopause symptoms.

A quarter of women going through menopause endure debilitating symptoms, including but not limited to irregular periods, hot flashes, chills, mood changes, irregular sleep patterns and more. These symptoms can last up to 10 years, with many women cutting down their hours, only working part-time or retiring early to cope with their symptoms.

As a result of the severity of these symptoms, women can become discouraged at work, which results in a decrease in job satisfaction and reduced working hours. According to the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), menopause costs women upwards of $17 billion annually in lost revenue and superannuation.

Many women have difficulty identifying their symptoms, which leads them to avoid seeking help. Having colleagues who do not understand menopause or don’t have enough information about it makes it even harder for them to discuss or ask for help.

Researchers have found that early diagnosis and education is an important in dealing with menopause and its related illnesses. When the necessary actions are taken to educate others, it reduces absenteeism in the workplace and encourages women to speak up about their experiences.

Ending The Stigma

Janet Michelmore AO, CEO of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, stresses the importance of ending the stigma in regards to menopause in the workplace and finding women the necessary treatment.

“We need to break taboos around the topic of menopause and encourage women, their partners and families, and workplaces to acknowledge this life stage and talk more openly about it. We need to find options and uncover more ways to keep women in the workplace so they can contribute to society and the economy as they wish to,” says Janet.

Jean Hailes for Women’s Health is a national not-for-profit organisation that advocates for women’s health education. The organisation honours the work of Jean Hailes, who opened the nation’s first women’s health clinic dedicated to menopause. In 2022, the Jean Hailes organisation opened two clinics in Victoria specialising in women’s health issues.

Janet encourages women everywhere to check out the Jean Hailes for Women’s Health website for updated information, booklets, videos and podcasts on how to manage menopausal symptoms.

“Important conversations and increased education for women and their health practitioners around menopause have to become the norm,” says Janet.

It’s essential that workplaces today recognise the negative impact menopause has on the many women at work.

There are many different strategies management and HR can implement that will help women feel more comfortable talking about their symptoms and asking for assistance.

Some of them include:

– Encouraging support groups to discuss perceptions of menopause.

– Providing HR managers and other employees with the necessary training and information on what menopause is and how it can impact work conditions.

– Understanding that each woman experiences menopause differently.

– Creating new HR policies that promote menopause-friendly ideas.

– Assisting in awareness campaigns that acknowledge menopause and work to remove the stigma behind it.

Managing symptoms and understanding them better can greatly contribute to women’s wellbeing at work. It’s time we take the necessary steps to make women feel comfortable and heard at their workplace.