Are you worried about talking about menopause in the workplace?

Are you worried about talking about menopause in the workplace?

Spoiler alert – I’m about to say something negative about national treasure Dame Jenni Murray.

Last week two newspaper reports in the Daily Mail caught my eye because they were raising different aspects of the impact of menopause on women’s careers and financial security.

The first article was an opinion piece by Jenni Murray in Femail titled ‘Suing over the menopause will make the workplace tougher for the rest of us’. She was commenting on recently published figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service which showed that Employment Tribunal Cases citing menopause are rising from five cases in the last nine months of 2018, to ten in the first six months of 2021.

One of the cases mentioned in the article was A v Bonmarche (2019). A had worked in retail for 37 years and was one of the top sellers for Bonmarche. In 2017 A was going through menopause. The Store Manager would demean her and humiliate her in front of other younger staff. He called her a dinosaur in front of customers. During a company reorganisation, he encouraged other staff to apply for A’s job.

A’s health began to suffer and she had a serious panic attack which required paramedics to attend. After a period of sickness absence. A contacted management and HR to discuss her situation and it was agreed that she would return to work on reduced hours. Within a week, the Store Manager put her on the rota to work her full hours. A resigned and left her employment. She was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, the Employment Tribunal awarded A £9975 for loss of earnings and £18000 in respect of injury to feelings. The Tribunal’s decision states, ‘On the question of injury to feelings I note that the claimant has suffered a substantial reduction in her mental wellbeing as a result of her treatment.’

According to Dame Jenni, ‘Winning such a case may sound like a great result, but I’m not so sure women are doing themselves any favours. What they are doing is setting themselves — and other midlife women — apart from the rest of the workforce.’

Really?! A woman who had been an exemplary employee was forced out of work and suffered a breakdown that left her unable to leave her house. She was unable to pay her mortgage and had to mortgage it for a longer period with another mortgage provider.

Dame Jenni carries on ‘Employers must be terrified that they may put a foot wrong and end up with an expensive court case.’ I’m not sure an increase from 5 to 10 cases a year is terrifying, particularly when workplace adjustments for employees at menopause are not expensive.

Turning to the second article in the Mail on Sunday titled ‘Pensions crisis is looming as nearly one million women retire early due to menopause symptoms, warns government adviser’.

‘A pensions crisis is looming because too many women who are experiencing symptoms of the menopause retire early, a Government adviser has warned. Andy Briggs, the Government’s Business Champion for Older Workers, said that almost one million women have left employment because of the menopause. The women affected tend to be aged between 45 and 55 – when they usually earn most and can contribute most to their workplace pensions.’

I am not sure about the accuracy of these statistics. In 2019 statistics showed that there were 4.3 million women over 45 in the workplace. Other research has reported that 25% of women ‘consider leaving employment’ due to menopause symptoms. I am not aware of any reliable statistics that all of those women vote with their feet.

However, anecdotally I know that a proportion of women do leave employment or take on work that is below their capability and qualifications or work part-time to cope with their symptoms. Add to that the fact that there is a gender pension gap and women have, on average, 40% less in their pension funds then men.

Not only are businesses losing well-trained, qualified, experienced women employees, menopause is affecting women’s financial security in later life. It’s a lose/lose situation.

The 50Plus Choices Employer Taskforce has released a report aimed at helping older women stay in the workforce.

‘Recommendations include more clinical support for women with menopausal symptoms, more appropriate sick leave policies, a Government-backed drive to promote conversations in the workplace and creation of a ‘menopause ambassador’.

Mr Briggs said: ‘Six out of ten women tell us that the menopause has a significant impact on them from a work perspective. And yet it’s just never talked about.’

This is a global issue. In September Australia’s Chief Scientist, Cathy Foley, said, ‘Unless we find ways to better support women during menopause, we risk losing the skills and leadership of women in their 40s and 50s. Menopause is not discussed enough. I know I wouldn’t have felt comfortable talking publicly about it when I went through the experience myself some years ago.’

When I joined the workforce in the early 1970’s equal pay for women had not been introduced. All of the women working in the insurance company I was employed by automatically earned 10% less than their male equivalents. Some women said, ‘Should we be talking about this? If employers have to pay us the same as men they may not employ us.’

Then there was the question of maternity leave. Women I worked with were expected to leave their jobs once they had children. And women still said, ‘Should we be talking about this? If employers have to give us maternity leave they may not employ us.’

More recently there were discussions around mental health in the workplace. And now employers understand that mental health issues can affect anyone, at any time, at any level in an organisation. Some employers have put mental health first-aiders in place.

Things don’t change unless we talk about them. Things don’t get better unless we talk about them.

So come on Dame Jenni. You have had your own challenges with menopause symptoms and dealing with treatment for breast cancer. Balance the increase of 5 extra cases going to Employment Tribunal (which may or not be successful) against the experience of maybe a million women leaving their careers when some simple adjustments would enable them to stay and thrive. Stand beside your sisters in the workplace who are lobbying for change.

Let’s talk about it.

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