In a survey of 1,000 adults in the UK, the British Menopause Society found that 45% of women felt that menopausal symptoms had a negative impact on their work and 47% needed to take a day off due to their symptoms.
Many women report finding it difficult to concentrate at work, getting tired, suffering from poor memory and the menopause having a negative effect on their confidence.
First of all, try not to be nervous speaking to your manager and/or human resources (HR) team about how the menopause is affecting you. Managers and HR departments are there to support you and should be able to make reasonable adjustments. Things that could help include:
It’s important to remember that it’s not appropriate to suggest a female employee is going through menopause or struggling with work because of its symptoms. If you do think menopause is having an impact, you can ask about your team members’ general well-being and they may open up.
Listen to their concerns and consider if there are adjustments that could be made, like the ones mentioned above, that could help.
You don’t have to be a menopause expert to support colleagues experiencing it. You simply need to listen to how they’re feeling, ask them how you can help and make reasonable adjustments for them. You can also encourage them to speak to their GP for further support if they haven’t done so already.
As always, if you have any questions you can use our Menopause Q&A where you can ask for more advice.
We have lots of Menopause FAQs, Menopause videos, Menopause reviews, and Menopause before and after images for you to do more research.
If you want to look for your nearest verified Menopause clinic, your local menopause clinics are listed below.