INTHEBLACK October 2021 - Magazine - Page 41
“Often women are saying
that...they want to be able to
access support, but just to be
seen as a normal part of being
an employee in an
organisation, rather than
something that needs to be
fixed or managed.”
PROFESSOR GAVIN JACK, MONASH UNIVERSITY
“It can help more women reach senior levels in
organisations, and research shows that when you’ve
got more women at the top, the organisation performs
better. But recent research suggests that 45 per cent of
women going through menopause considered retiring
or taking a break from work. Somewhere in the range
of 4 per cent to 10 per cent actually do.
“It’s the silence, not just the symptoms that make
work untenable for some.”
Sydney Colussi, researcher at the University of
Sydney, is part of a team studying international
menstrual and menopause workplace policies.
Colussi says menopause policies are rare and her
team have only found them to exist in the UK and
Australia.
The UK is leading the way on this issue. In early
June this year, for instance, a UK parliamentary debate
on support for people experiencing menopausal
symptoms was held to help inform the development
of a Women’s Health Strategy.
Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Bank has
recently partnered with the Financial Services Skills
Commission to explore how the menopause transition
affects women working in financial services and their
progression to senior roles.
“One of the first companies that we know of to
introduce a menopause policy is the UK’s Channel 4,”
says Colussi.
“It was introduced on World Menopause Day [18
October] in 2019 and the whole purpose was to try
to empower workers to ask for reasonable adjustments,
so they could ease menopause symptoms in the
workplace without any sort of embarrassment. They
were hoping to create a more open culture on this
issue.”
A NORMAL WORKPLACE ISSUE
Colussi stresses that the design and implementation
of menopause policies require careful consideration.
There is a risk that ill-considered policies may
exacerbate gender discrimination and reinforce
stereotypes that women are somehow less capable
at work.
“There’s a concern that policies can position
menopause as a problem,” she says. “The truth is that
menopause is experienced in different ways, and some
people might find symptoms debilitating, but others
might not find it a problem at all.”
Jack adds that, for some women, menopause is a
deeply private matter.
“Some women feel it has no business in the
workplace, but our research shows that’s not the
view for most.”
Jack says embedding support into existing practices
and frameworks, such as occupational health and
wellbeing, or diversity and inclusion, may help to
normalise menopause in the workplace.
“In the interviews we’ve done, often women are
saying that they don’t want a spotlight on menopause,
necessarily. They want to be able to access support, but
just to be seen as a normal part of being an employee
in an organisation, rather than something that needs
to be fixed or managed.”
This has been the approach at IPG Mediabrands
since Lion approached her boss about her own
menopause symptoms. The company employs 750
people and, while very few are in the average age
bracket for menopause, Lion says the company’s goal
is to be seen as “menopause friendly”.
“We want women to be able talk to their managers
when they’re experiencing symptoms and to make
reasonable adjustments that are unique for them,”
says Lion.
“In my case, I experienced dreadful brain fog, and
I was able to manage that with my CEO and my team
directly by saying, ‘I’m not going to be making great
decisions today’.
“It didn’t mean I needed to have time off,” adds
Lion. “I just knew what type of work I needed to
adjust to on those days. We’re also encouraging this
approach for new parents who may not be getting
much sleep.”
intheblack.com October 2021 41