INTHEBLACK October 2021 - Magazine - Page 42
F E AT U R E
// M E N O PA U S E I N T H E W O R K P L A C E
HOW QTU IS BECOMING
A M E N O PA U S E F R I E N D LY W O R K P L A C E
The Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) is
among the first workplaces in Australia to
take an organisational approach to
becoming menopause-friendly.
Above: The Queensland Teachers’ Union runs the Menopause Project,
which is aimed at improving workplace policies around menopause.
A POWERFUL CHANGE
In addition to workplace training in menopause,
O’Connor assists in drafting policies that she says
double as an education document.
“They also spell out who is responsible for
what when it comes to creating a menopausefriendly workplace,” she says. “For instance, it’s
the organisation’s responsibility to create an
environment that’s safe, healthy and free from
discrimination. It’s the responsibility of line
managers to help their staff do their job and to be
ready to have a supportive conversation. It’s the
responsibility of employees to manage their health
as best as they can, and it remains their choice if
they want to talk about it with their manager.”
O’Connor adds that organisations have a lot
to gain by making menopause a workplace issue.
“We need to recognise that even though
menopause itself might be turbulent, it’s an
important pathway into what can be a really
powerful stage of life for women that workplaces
can benefit from,” she says.
“Women often talk about the upsides of getting
through this life stage,” adds O’Connor. “They can
feel an inner sense of confidence like they’ve never
felt before. They can be much more willing to speak
their mind and less willing to tolerate bad behaviour.
They could be a power to be reckoned with and
an amazing asset to an organisation, but we’ve got
to see beyond the symptoms of this temporary life
stage into where this is taking women.”
42 ITB October 2021
CLICK HERE
TO BORROW
Diversity at Work
from the
CPA Library
Planning for QTU’s Menopause Project began
in 2019, and the findings are informing how the
organisation improves conditions for menopausal
as well as peri- and post-menopausal women in
their workplaces.
Penny Spalding, assistant secretary, women
and social welfare issues at QTU, describes the
approach as “two pronged”.
“It’s for us as an organisation with 120
employees, but we are also conscious of futureproofing our membership of close to 48,000,
which is a feminised workforce as well,” she says.
QTU has conducted a survey to measure
employees’ understanding of menopause and
held voluntary information sessions with the aim
of sharing facts and debunking myths.
“A lot of my male colleagues found it really
helpful for supporting the women in their private
lives and work lives,” says Spalding. “We also
found that it helped fill a knowledge gap in
younger women in understanding
perimenopause.”
Spalding says management training has focused
on the provision of appropriate adjustments and
“framing everything with a positive light”.
“It’s important that menopause is not seen as a
deficit or something bad that needs to be
managed. It should be about a positive
framework, and conversations should always be
initiated by employees, not their managers.”
QTU’s flexible work policy now includes the
experience of menopausal symptoms as a reason
for requesting flexible work hours. Reasonable
workplace adjustments also include moving
workstations to being closer to bathrooms and
the provision of desktop fans to assist with
temperature control.
“We have menopause posters up in the office to
create those visual prompts about who you can
go to and where you can get information,” says
Spalding. “It’s all about creating a safe place
where it’s OK to talk about it.”