Would you ever tell your boss you were experiencing menopause symptoms? If your answer is “no,” that’s not surprising. Menopause is one of many taboo topics that simply isn’t discussed in professional settings. However, menopause affects a considerable portion of working women, many of whom are moving up the ladder right as menopause sets in. Some women end up stalling their career progression or even quitting their jobs because they feel like they can’t reveal that menopause is impacting their performance. If you want to help stop this from happening, here are seven strategies that can help provide menopause relief and acceptance in the workplace.
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Address ageism in the workplace
Part of the reason why menopause is so rarely mentioned in the workplace is because of the twin forces of sexism and ageism. While sexism in the workplace is gaining more and more critical attention, ageism can often be forgotten. Ageism has big impacts on both women and men in the workplace, but the effects on women are more pronounced and greatly exacerbated by sexism. Men may be seen as “mature” and “seasoned,” while women of the same age are dismissed as “old” or “haggard.” Ageism is part of why strides have been made when it comes to maternity leave and breastfeeding at work, while women going through menopause are expected to suffer without support. Understanding how ageism impacts older employees is key to normalizing menopause and other age-related conditions.
Have older women in places of leadership
Women usually enter menopause and achieve the peak of their career at approximately the same time, from their mid-40s to their mid-50s. This means that menopausal women are often uniquely positioned to take on leadership positions and set an example of talking about menopause openly in the workplace. However, women only hold a small percentage of top-level leadership roles, about 28 percent of senior vice president positions and 21 percent of C suite positions. This means that four to five men will have a seat at the table for every one woman, and women of color are even more underrepresented than white women. Having older women in leadership is absolutely crucial for normalizing menopause in the workplace and proving that menopause doesn’t have to derail your career.
Train upper management
Creating an inclusive, safe culture starts with management, who are most likely to be men with no personal experience whatsoever with female health occurrences, like menopause and bloating. Indeed, these men may be totally unaware of how greatly menopause can affect women, as many women feel pressured to hide menopausal symptoms in both personal and professional situations. Coordinate informational training sessions to bring leaders up to speed on how menopause affects women and why it’s important to support menopausal employees. After all, if older women don’t get the support they need, they may exit the company or even the workforce altogether, taking their much-needed knowledge and skills with them.
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Create a culture of openness and dialogue
It’s not enough for leadership to be educated about menopause and the workplace. Menopausal women also need to feel comfortable coming to their boss if they’re having a tough time or need to take a break because of menopause. The culture of openness can have beneficial results for employees who are struggling with a wide variety of conditions that are often stigmatized in the workplace, including mental health, arthritis, and more. Employers shouldn’t be expected to swap recommendations for incontinence products for women at work, but, at the same time, they should feel comfortable saying they need to step away for a minute because they’re experiencing a hot flash.
Offer individual temperature control
Hot flashes are one of the most overwhelming symptoms of menopause to manage, and they can strike at any time. If you can, offer employees a certain level of individual temperature control to help ease hot flashes. For instance, you can provide desk fans or move menopausal women to desks near windows so they can open them for a breeze when they feel toasty. This policy can also be beneficial for younger women, whose body temperatures tend to run colder than those of men and who are often required to wear business casual dress that is less insulating than a man’s suit. They’ll just need space heaters instead of fans.
Make sure uniforms have layers
If your office has a uniform policy, whether it’s an actual uniform or simply a dress code, make sure that it allows for layers that can be removed during a hot flash. For instance, in a corporate environment, a menopausal woman could wear a sweater over a sleeveless sheath dress and remove the sweater if she gets too hot. Mandating long sleeves and pants, especially in hot weather, can cause hot flashes to become quite intense and ultimately force menopausal employees to leave the building at inopportune times in order to seek relief. Try to loosen up the dress code a bit, and your employees will thank you.
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Consider flexible work schedules.
Menopause symptoms may be worse at certain times of the day or flare up suddenly one day. If your type of work allows for it, implement a flexible work policy that allows employees to work from home or take days if they’re having a particularly bad health day (menopausal or not). It can be really tough for women to physically go into the office when they’re struggling with severe hot flashes or menopausal bloat, so instituting a work from home policy allows them to still be productive while managing their health symptoms. Similarly, menopause isn’t covered under medical or disability leave in the U.S., so having sick days or flexible PTO women can use on days they feel really sick is also a must.
Menopause is a natural part of life, so it should be a natural part of the workplace as well. Follow these seven tips to help normalize menopause in the workplace.
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