Menopause is a normal part of the life cycle for many women in the workplace.
There is growing awareness and recognition of the benefits of enabling an open and supportive discussion of adjustments to accommodate the impacts of the menopause at work.
Our working lives are long and likely to lengthen. Women are 60% of the University workforce and 52% are over 45. It makes sense for us to be proactive to enhance good practice to reduce the challenges and difficulties of navigating this life stage. Menopause may also be triggered at different ages for individuals by other health issues and events. We seek to adopt an inclusive approach recognising that some trans men and gender non-conforming people will also go through menopause.
We want colleagues to be comfortable to be themselves at work, and remove barriers affecting confidence, performance and wellbeing, particularly where these relate to gender or other aspects of diverse identities.
Many employers within and beyond the higher education sector are taking positive steps to support menopause transition. Not all women experience negative effects, but where these occur they can be debilitating and difficult to cope with, especially if it feels hard to talk about simple practical solutions.