World Health Day
Every year on April 7, the world comes together to celebrate World Health Day, an initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise awareness about critical global health issues, so we thought at P²HR that given we are a team of women of a certain age, what better subject to talk about than menopause.
Millions of people go through the menopause every year and many experience life changing symptoms, lots of which have been written about, but what can you do as an employer to support and help your employees with this? Here are a few ideas:.
Remove the stigma
Great if you have a policy, but it’s not the end of the world if you don’t. It is more important to ensure your people do not feel it is a taboo subject and they can talk openly about the menopause. When we encourage those conversations, open up about your own experiences (where that is possible and you want to of course) – one of the most enlightening conversations I’ve had with a client was him telling me what he was doing to support his wife through the menopause; it doesn’t just impact on your female staff.
Acknowledge their struggle
Talk through and acknowledge the impact the menopause has on your staff – there are varying degrees with some having heavy and painful periods, hot flushes, mood swings, fatigue and poor concentration which can pose significant and embarrassing problems for some people, resulting in lowered confidence. Therefore, some need more support than others.
It’s also important to acknowledge that it’s not just women that go through the menopause; trans and non-binary people can also experience it. You should also consider the needs of these employees when implementing menopausal support.
Offer flexible support
Consider the options to support them e.g. flexible working hours and working arrangements – remember one size does not fit all so needs to be tailored around the individual.
Consider environmental factors
If you are working in the office, look at ways of improving ventilation – it doesn’t have to be an expensive aircon system; fans work too!
We have helped many of our clients with advice in this area and their feedback has indicated how supporting menopause in the workplace has empowered people to continue doing their jobs, increased the employee’s engagement which ultimately has allowed productivity within the company.
We would love to talk all things HR with you, please get in touch for a chat.