Menopause & The Workplace

So seeing as we are all now on the road to normality and many of us going back to work, I gave some thought to many ladies facing the prospect of going back into a physical workplace. Many of us have become accustomed to and fair to say more comfortable working from home not having to face the workplace, people, daily work tasks whilst dealing with the uncomfortable outbreaks of hot flushes, anxiety, etc etc …….!

 

I personally can only reflect on how I felt working in a male dominant field and me being the only female and then boom, the start of the menopause!

 

Morning meetings, training, standing up in front of a whole office of not only men but mostly half my age. ( no jokes ladies )

 

I would sit there and dread my turn and the more I dreaded, the hotter and more flushed I became.

 

Another reason my search began for something that worked, either that or like I sometimes felt, WALK OUT………! NO

 

It makes you ponder, bad period pains “go home”, pregnancy, a valid reason, but no one considers menopause.

 

My strong feelings are that management could do with a form of training to understand to a certain degree.

 

Many managers say that they don’t feel confident talking about menopause. They don’t know enough about it or how they can help. Unlike maternity where it’s usually clear, a woman gets pregnant, has antenatal appointments, goes on maternity leave, has a baby and returns to work.

 

It may be more complicated for menopause, every woman’s experience is different.

 

This means managers need training to understand the range of possibilities and guidance on the support of understanding.

 

We don’t want labelling but a little understanding…!

 

By talking about it openly, raising awareness and putting the right support in place, perhaps we could get to a point where menopause is no longer an issue in the workplace at all.

 

Something to bear in mind…!

 

Alarmingly in some cases menopausal symptoms can lead to women leaving their jobs, in fact 1 in 4 consider it….!

 

So finally on that note the moral of this story or article is:

 

Don’t be afraid when the initial fear of embarrassment stops you from getting the support you need and it becomes too hard to continue pretending nothing is amiss, stand up and say excuse me I’m having a hot flash I’ll have to excuse myself for a few minutes and I need a break. No other explanation needed…..! 

Adele,

The Feminapause Team xx