Hot Stuff

The Change of Life.  The Big M. The 'pause.  Whatever you want to call it, the menopause is an increasingly important topic in discussions about workplace wellbeing. Perhaps you're reading this mid-hot flush, or maybe night sweats are still on the distant horizon. Possibly you're going to be playing a supporting role in someone else's menopause journey.  Whichever it is, in the modern world of work, it's no longer a taboo subject - and it's one you may want to discover more about if you'll need to manage your own - or someone else's - menopause at work. What better time, then, than World Menopause Day, on 18 October 2026, to dive in and tackle it head-on?  

This year's theme is "Chronic Pain at Midlife".  Not a particularly cheery thought, we agree.  But quite an accurate description for many women.  Not everyone's menopause experience will be the same, of course.  Some people may bounce through with barely a palpitation.  Others may run headlong into a transition period of brain fog, anxiety, loss of confidence, sleep deprivation, headaches and muscle and joint pain.  And while it's easy to dismiss these symptoms as "something everyone goes through", or to avoid discussing it altogether out of uncertainty or embarrassment, there's a risk that unsupported menopause symptoms may lead to issues with retention, sickness absence or even performance.  This sounds somewhat drastic, we know, but it's backed up by research; the CIPD found that 67% of survey respondents said menopause had a negative effect on their work, more than 10% felt discriminated against because of their menopausal symptoms, and 17% have considered leaving their jobs due to a lack of support in relation to their menopause symptoms.  When we scale this up to a population level, it has a serious, and very expensive, effect on the UK working population; 4.5 million women aged 50 to 64 are in employment in the UK, and the TUC calculates that women of menopausal age make up 11% of the total UK workforce.  Even after a night of disturbed, overheated sleep, everyone can see that the loss to the workplace of high numbers of skilled, experienced women, often at the high point of their careers and holding senior leadership, managerial and specialist roles, will have a major impact on the economy.  Even if these employees manage to stay in the workforce, 14 million working days are lost to menopause in the UK every year, with an estimated £1.8 billion in lost productivity.  This is an issue we simply can't afford to ignore any longer. 

So what support can we sensibly offer, and expect to receive, during this period?  It's often said that the first and most important pillar of support is an understanding ear and an open workplace culture - a place where the subject of menopause is accepted as a perfectly normal life stage that half the population will experience, rather than an alarming topic that we should back away from so quickly that we stumble over our own hand-held fans and chilled water bottles in the process.  To be clear, we're definitely not suggesting that you go around asking colleagues whether they are menopausal.  But open ended questions ("How are you doing at the moment?"  "Is there anything we could do to offer you more support as you carry out your role?") can open the door for team members to start the conversation, if they'd like to.  They may value an informal, periodic (no pun intended!) check in with line managers.  If as a male manager, you feel that a colleague may be reluctant to discuss any necessary menopause support with you, you can always offer a chat with a female manager. 

If the subject has been raised, then it's important not to make any assumptions about what your staff may need.  Be led by them - everyone will have their own individual combination of physical and emotional impacts.  It can feel particularly brutal because menopause sometimes hits at the same time as other life pressures - perhaps elderly parents who need increasing support, or teenage children sitting GCSEs, for example.  This may mean that everyone has a slightly different set of priorities and stresses and will to need to juggle them with menopause symptions in their own way.   That said, there are some generally useful suggestions which you may want to offer up, whichever side of the table you're sitting.   

Ultimately, if we'd support any colleague who was experiencing other health difficulties, then we should be extending the same sympathetic, practical approach to our menopausal team members.  If they have chronically sore and aching joints and muscles due to menopause, is their workstation still set up correctly for them?  Do they need a more ergonomic working position, or to be allowed to get up and move around more often?  Should we be advising them to take regular breaks away from a sitting position?  Do they have access to a rest area where they could give painful joints a break or stand and stretch if they would like to?  The last thing anyone wants is, for example, long-term back problems, risking ongoing pain and rising sickness absence rates. 

Temperature controls, also, can make a huge difference to comfort and therefore concentration and productivity at work.  We all remember the blistering heatwaves of this summer.  How many of us can honestly say we were producing our best work whilst sitting in 35 degree heat?  Now let's think about how that would feel day-in, day-out.   Can your colleague work next to a window, or in a cooler, air-conditioned part of the office?  Can you provide a fan and easy access to washrooms and drinking water?

And finally, there are structural changes which we can make to the working day, without too much difficulty, which might have an enormous impact on whether a colleague can continue in their role.  Research shows that flexibility around working times is considered to be the single most helpful step an employer can take to support those experiencing menopause symptoms at work.  If they aren't sleeping, do they have the option to start and end their working day later?  It makes sense for everyone to move the working day to the time where employees can do a good job, rather than forcing team members to work on no sleep, and produce less, or worse still - have to call in sick because they feel so unwell from lack of sleep.  

Can they work from home, where they can set the temperature, wear cooler clothing, and find a more comfortable position in which to sit?  If their anxiety levels have exploded, can they reduce their working hours, or review their workload for a period until their stress levels reduce again - just as you might arrange for any other staff member suffering from stress?

The solution may be different for everyone, but the most important thing is that we open the door and start the conversation.  There are simple, inexpensive steps we can all take to mitigate chronic pain in midlife, and 9-2-3 can help you to start this flexible journey.  Whether you're looking for a new role to help you navigate your own menopausal transition, or wanting to build an open and inclusive culture in your own workplace to assist team members at this stage of life, come and talk to us. Menopause support.  It's hot stuff.