Need for greater workplace awareness of menopause


Women’s health expert Professor Myra Hunter has called for workplaces to cater for the menopause in a comparable way to pregnancy. 


A new paper by Hunter and her colleagues at King’s College London and Nottingham University say that symptoms including hot flushes and night sweats are particularly difficult for women to manage at work. But they report: “Discussion about menopause at work is widely perceived as taboo and consequently, despite women’s reported experiences, there is a lack of awareness about menopause in work settings.” 


The researchers say there is some evidence that menopausal symptoms can have an effect on work experience, including perceived performance, and that “certain work situations and physical working environments, such as aspects of work design and temperature, and work stress, can increase the intensity of menopausal symptoms”. 


The team is also developing training on the menopause for employers and union reps. This will be offered on the Women’s Health at Work website.


Last year, Wales TUC produced a new toolkit to help change the way the menopause is treated in the workplace after a survey found that fewer than 1% of 4,000 respondents said there was a menopause policy at their workplace. 


The toolkit provides practical help for trade union reps including examples of workplace adjustments, ideas for action, surveys and mapping, a gender sensitive health and safety checklist, a model workplace policy and example risk assessment. 


http://wtuclearn.tuc.org.uk/resource/menopause-workplace-toolkit-trade-unionists