Why Should Employers Strive to Build Menopause-Inclusive Workplaces?

Personal Statement

My name is Nathalie. I am passionate about women’s health, and I decided to research and write about menopause in the workplace for my English 102 course. I’m hoping this paper can help raise awareness about why employers should strive to create menopause-inclusive workplaces and share some ideas on how to achieve this.

Why Should Employers Strive to Build Menopause-Inclusive Workplaces?

Abstract

This paper explores the issue of menopause in the workplace in the United States. It provides information on the transition to menopause, its challenges, and its impact on workplaces. In addition, the paper presents some of the benefits of creating menopause-inclusive work environments, such as reducing financial losses associated with menopause and serving as a great HR tool to increase employers’ attractiveness and drive employee retention. Finally, the essay introduces some ideas and strategies to create menopause-friendly work environments and argues that many organizations already have in place some supportive policies or benefits that could be optimized to meet the needs of menopausal employees.

Why Should Employers Strive to Build Menopause-Inclusive Workplaces?

When Halle Berry yelled “I’m in menopause, OK?” outside the U.S. Capitol last month (Seitz, 2024), it was yet another example of a recent trend of celebrities opening up about their struggle with menopause. An increasing number of specialized healthcare providers, like Dr. Mary Claire Haver, and other influencers are turning to social media platforms to raise awareness and lessen the stigma around menopause.

As menopause is becoming less taboo in the public debate, the subject is still overlooked in many workplaces (Berchowitz & Misiaszek, 2023). As noted by Schurman and Fadal (2024), “only 15% of U.S. companies offer menopause benefits today”. With three out of four women participating in the US workforce while going through the menopause transition (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024), there is an urgent need for employers to look into how they can better support their menopausal workforce.

The Transition to Menopause Can Last Over a Decade

Generally speaking, menopause is defined as the moment when a person born with ovaries (1) loses their reproductive function. There are three stages to menopause: perimenopause, which is a natural process that occurs when ovaries gradually stop working until the last menstrual cycle, menopause which is diagnosed when 12 consecutive months have passed since the last menstrual cycle, and post-menopause which is defined as the life stage that follows menopause(2) (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024).

1The terms “woman”, “women”, and “female” will be used throughout this paper to refer to any person born with ovaries.
2The term “menopause” will be used throughout this paper with the understanding that it could include the three stages of menopause: “perimenopause”, “menopause”, and “post-menopause”.

Menopause occurs on average around 51 years old (Cowell et al., 2024), and the entire transition can last a few years to more than a decade (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024). Menopause can also be induced at any age by certain medical or surgical procedures that impact ovarian function such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or ovary removal surgery (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024). The Cleveland Clinic (2021) notes that although the symptoms become less intense during post-menopause, “some people continue to experience menopausal symptoms for a decade or longer after menopause”.

Menopausal Symptoms Can Disrupt People’s Lives

Common physical and psychological symptoms experienced during menopause include hot flashes, insomnia, fatigue, mood disorders, migraines, brain fog, weight fluctuation, muscle and joint pain, and urogenital symptoms (Cowell et al., 2024). Symptoms can be experienced periodically or chronically throughout the transition (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024) and, as noted by Cowell et al. (2024), “can be highly distressing, significantly impacting various aspects of women’s lives, including personal, social, and professional domains.”

Menopause Interferes With Work Performance and Job Satisfaction

In a survey by Biote (2022), “40% [of the respondents] said menopause interfered with their work performance at least weekly”. With the U.S. Department of Labor (2023) projecting that women ages 45 to 64 will represent over a third of the U.S. women’s labor force by 2029, the portion of the female workforce that may be impacted by menopause is considerable. Also considerable is the negative impact that regularly or chronically feeling unwell can have on an individual’s job satisfaction, work fulfillment, and career growth. Beyond the moral responsibility that employers have to support the well-being of all employees, including those who do not have control over their medical conditions, addressing the specific needs of the menopausal workforce is an important way to build more equitable work environments.

Creating menopause-inclusive workplaces also offers significant financial benefits, related to reducing financial losses associated with menopause symptoms, and to the recruitment and retention of skilled and experienced employees.

The Financial Impact of Menopause in the Workplace

Overlooking the impact of menopause in the workplace can come at a high cost. The duration, frequency, and severity of menopausal symptoms can interfere significantly with people’s work lives, leading to missed workdays, reduced work hours, and even in some cases employee departures (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024). A recent study by the Mayo Clinic estimates the annual cost of working time loss related to menopause to be around $1.8 billion annually (Faubion et al. 2023), and an overall “menopause-related loss of $26 billion” each year in the US (Schurman & Fadal, 2024). The substantial economic impact of menopause in the workplace highlights the need to create better working environments for menopausal employees to reduce some of these financial losses.

Menopause-Inclusive Workplaces to Attract Talent and Drive Employee Retention 

According to Schurman and Fadal (2024), “Given the tight labor market and the shrinking pool of younger workers outside menopause age”, it is now critical for employers to develop policies and benefits that target the needs of skilled candidates and experienced employees of all ages. More so, menopause typically occurs alongside major career developments when women may be moving into larger executive roles (Corbett, 2024).

Given the substantial impact of menopause on employee well-being, productivity, and employee retention, business and HR leaders must act urgently to improve the menopausal employee experience in the workplace.

How to Create Menopause-Friendly Work Environments?

Cowell et al. (2024) define menopause as “a complex experience shaped by various social determinants of health”. With a weekly average of 40 hours spent working in the US, workplace support remains a key contributing factor to an individual’s overall menopausal experience. How can employers build better working environments for the menopausal workforce?

Although the subject of menopause is becoming less taboo, many people remain unfamiliar with the symptoms associated with menopause. Promoting education about menopause in the workplace is a critical foundational step to building more inclusive work environments, and this can be achieved through leadership training and employee awareness programs (Corbett, 2024).

In addition, leading women’s health research and advocacy groups such as the Society for Women’s Health Research (2024) recommend creating “safe spaces” where employees can discuss their menopausal challenges. For example, Adobe promotes open communication about menopause through an internal communications channel where employees can connect and share information (Schurman & Fadal, 2024).

Strategically designing workplace policies and employee benefits with menopausal employees in mind is another key action that can be taken by HR leaders to create better working environments for the menopausal workforce. For instance, employers could offer health insurance plans that include coverage of medical treatments, medical consultations with specialists (Haridasani, 2023), and access to additional support services for healthy aging (Society for Women’s Health Research 2024). Building in some work flexibility across the organization and implementing workplace accommodations that are specific to different types of work could greatly improve employees’ experience at work. For instance, workplaces could offer frequent breaks for physically demanding work (Society for Women’s Health Research 2024) or customer-facing roles (Cowell et al., 2024), flexible meeting schedules for intellectually demanding work, or individual coaching for emotionally demanding work (Society for Women’s Health Research, 2024).

Optimizing and Adapting Existing Policies

While some organizations may decide to pursue full menopause accreditations like the “Menopause-Friendly UK” accreditation (Menopause Friendly UK, 2024), many organizations could potentially significantly improve their employee experience by optimizing existing policies and benefits.

Flexible work schedules, hybrid or remote work options, as well as access to mental health support services, widely implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, are still in place today in many organizations (Casselman et al., 2024). These benefits work well to support people going through menopause.

In addition, Schurman and Fadal (2024) note that corporate “fertility and maternity benefits” being offered by many American employers “could be extended to cover employees going through menopause”. Employers could, for example, cover some of the cost of the medications used to manage menopausal symptoms, much like the coverage of in-vitro fertilization medications (Patterson, 2023); provide accommodations for medical appointments, similar to prenatal care; or support frequent breaks for menopause-related fatigue, just like for pregnancy-related fatigue.

Conclusion

The transition to menopause comes with many health challenges that have the potential to significantly impact people’s personal and professional lives. Striving to create more empathetic work environments for all employees also comes with significant financial benefits, and can be used as a tool to increase employers’ attractiveness, and drive employee retention.

Employers can create menopause-inclusive work environments by raising awareness about menopause, fostering open communication, and designing inclusive policies and benefits. Many organizations have existing policies and benefits that can be optimized for this purpose.

With recent updates on the medical management of menopausal symptoms (Manson et al., 2024), and the introduction last month of a new bipartisan legislation to expand federal research on menopause (United States Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski, 2024), more treatment options to manage menopausal symptoms may become available in a foreseeable future, which may very well lessen the impact of menopause on personal and professional lives.

Keywords: Employers, menopause, perimenopause, inclusive workplaces.

References

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Biote. (2022, May 10). Biote women in the workplace Survey. Biote. https://biote.com/learning-center/biote-women-in-the-workplace-survey

Casselman, B; Goldberg, E; & Koeze, E. (2024, March 8). Who still works from home? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/08/business/economy/remote-work-home.html

Cleveland Clinic. (2021, October 5). Postmenopause. Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21837-postmenopause

Corbett, H. (2024, May 31). Why menopause-friendly workplaces are better for everybody. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/hollycorbett/2024/05/31/why-menopause-friendly-workplaces-are-better-for-everybody/?sh=1032ea671234

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Haridasani G.A. (2023, August 19). The next frontier for corporate benefits: menopause. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/business/corporate-benefits-menopause

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Seitz, A (2024, May 2). Halle Berry shouts from the Capitol, ‘I’m in menopause’ as she seeks to end a stigma and win funding. AP. https://apnews.com/article/halle-berry-menopause-8fe88d4fd3d4e81a0ddcbedb12a35e08

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United States Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski. (2024, May 2). Senator Murkowski introduces historic new bipartisan legislation to boost menopause research, expand training and awareness around menopause [Press Release]. https://www.murkowski.senate.gov/press/release/senator-murkowski-introduces-historic-new-bipartisan-legislation-to-boost-menopause-research-expand-training-and-awareness-around-menopause

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