Menopause – What’s It Costing The Economy?
- Dec 13, 2021
- 4 min read
Written by: Lesley Tait, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The conversation is warming up. It’s capturing media attention. Celebrities and even politicians are endorsing the movement to normalise the conversation. They’re shining a spotlight on the necessity to overtly acknowledge the menopause for the sake of womankind.
But there’s another angle here and that is the economic implications that are hiding in plain sight.
Menopausal women are the fastest-growing demographic in the workplace, but worldwide, they’re sliding into perimenopause at an age when they’re at the peak of their careers.
According to the ‘Women in the Workplace 2021’ report by McKinsey, its women who are doing more to support their teams and advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
There’s a plethora of research suggesting that companies with a higher percentage of women in senior leadership positions, are more profitable because women bring a different mindset to the business world and their emotional intelligence is more superior.
But this isn’t purely a case for supporting women in business. The issue is whose supporting them in doing this critical work and to what cost if their emotional and psychological wellbeing is under threat, and they themselves feel under valued and isolated.
The statistics around this demonstrate the urgency. A 2021 survey commissioned by Dr Louise Newson, GP and Menopause Specialist revealed that out of 3800 menopausal or perimenopausal women, 99% felt their symptoms led to a negative impact on their careers.
The research also found that 59% of them had taken time off due their symptoms, and 18% of those for eight weeks or longer.
This highlights the lack of support available for women in the workplace. Maybe this is due to the blissful ignorance of employers or maybe there’s an inherent embarrassment of poking around in a subject related the female reproductive system.
Another survey conducted by BUPA in conjunction with the CIPD found that three in five menopausal women, usually aged between 45 and 55 were ‘negatively affected at work’. And that ‘almost 900,000 women in the UK left their jobs over an undefined period of time because of menopausal symptoms’.
While the number of women representing board positions in FTSE 100 companies has increased there is another dimension we must consider if they’re to remain there. So what impact is menopause having on the talent pipeline?
Aside from the risk posed to the pool of talented and skilled female expertise there’s the wider impact on productivity, morale and diversity which all lead back to the bottom line. It’s estimated that 14 million working days are lost each year due to menopausal related symptoms, and in the last 3 years, menopausal related tribunal cases have tripled.
The prevalence of menopause policies is increasing but it’s not enough to just tick the menopause policy box, publish it on the intranet and assume it’s covered. It’s not, and it happens.
Call it ticking the proverbial box or call it lip service, it amounts to the same thing. Employers need to recognise this issue is multifaceted. A menopause policy needs to be all encompassing, speak to employees of all genders, and it needs to have a richness that really supports both the physical and mental impact on women and the ripple effect on colleagues. It needs to engage with stakeholders at all levels to understand what precisely that specific environment needs. It needs to weave into a programme that’s immersed so deeply in the culture that it creates a sense of normality. It needs to be quantifiable and the impact measurable.
But there is light on the horizon, and the world is slowly rising from its menopause slumber.
Standard Chartered Bank has partnered with the Financial Services Skills Commission (FSSC) to better understand the challenges faced by women going through the menopause transition at work, and how this impacts the talent pipeline across the UK’s financial services industry. In addition companies such as HSBC UK, Natwest Group and CMS have all been accredited as menopause friendly employers.
In one sense of the word the ‘change’ is here, and it couldn’t be further away in another. We live in an era of equality, diversity and inclusion and we all have a responsibility to play in cracking this taboo.
So how do we change the narrative or lack of it? If we as women are not comfortable in saying ‘menopause’ how can we expect our husbands, partners, managers and colleagues to get on board with it. That’s easier said than done. I’m immersed in my menopause bubble. I live and breathe it day in and day out and it’s received with mixed responses. There are some that almost sigh with relief that I dare to mention the ‘M’ word and there are others who’re veraciously cringing at the mere hint of it. What is clear to me is the more I talk about it, the more it’s accepted as the norm, so we need to lead from the front.
If we can shift our mindset and see this time of life as golden, that it’s a time to celebrate our wisdom. Be proud of who we are, what we’ve achieved and who we’ve become. If we can stand tall and proud and embrace this shift as a time of discovery we can make great strides in unearthing this taboo, and slowly remove the stigma that confines so many women to suffering in silence.
Lesley Tait is a Menopause Coach and an Emotional Wellbeing Coach.
Lesley specialises in helping corporate women struggling with menopause symptoms resulting in loss of confidence, self esteem issues & performance issues, because of which life & career goals are getting derailed.
Lesley Tait, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Lesley Tait is a master of all things menopause. Having had a bad experience herself which led her to re-evaluate her life she developed strategies to move past her symptoms and live a life which is now symptom free and better than she could have ever imagined. Lesley's passion for supporting other women through this transition led her to leave her successful 33 year career in sales and commercial management to retrain as a Personal Performance Coach and Emotional Wellbeing Coach and set up her own business. She is Director of Her Supreme Self, her coaching programs are based on the ground-breaking Harmonizing philosophy created by Dawn Breslin, and is a delicious blend of confidence, emotional and spiritual coaching which offers a very gentle yet very powerful life transformation.
