Hello PPMA members and friends

October is World Menopause Month and to celebrate this, our latest blog post is from Mandy Baughurst, Learning and Development Advisor at Leicestershire County Council. Mandy has been passionate about the drive for Leicestershire to become a Menopause Friendly Employer.

In September this year she and her colleagues achieved recognition for their excellent work at the inaugural Menopause Friendly Employer Awards run by Menopause Friendly and supported by the CIPD. The council won the Best Trained Workplace award, was a finalist in the Menopause Friendly Employer of the Year Award and Best Trained Workforce. Mandy was the Community Award Winner on the night. Huge congratulations to everyone at Leicestershire for this fantastic achievement.

Mandy was interviewed by her employers to find out more about about her work and what has happened she’s since she wrote a blog about this a few years ago?

Here’s the interview:

Congratulations Mandy. Why was it important for Leicestershire to become a Menopause Friendly Employer?

Originally, I was inspired to do something after attending a menopause event. Its easy to think of menopause as a wellbeing issue, but we know that some people even consider resigning because of the impact of their menopause symptoms on their ability to work so it’s also a diversity issue.

For the majority of people, menopause happens around the age of 51 and if senior women feel unable to continue working after so many years of experience, it’s not just a loss of talent but it could also affect our diversity at senior levels and impact on our gender pay gap. This got me thinking about our high percentage of female workers and whether this was relevant and important to them.

I was really surprised but encouraged by how enthusiastically staff have welcomed the opportunity to learn and share information about living and working with menopause systems so we’ve looked at supporting this in lots of different ways. It’s the work I get the most positive feedback from, staff who are really grateful that the support is there.

What does being a menopause friendly employer look like at Leicestershire County Council?

We want everyone to feel comfortable, confident and open about who they are and to be able to talk openly about issues affecting them at work, whether that’s menopause symptoms or juggling caring responsibilities, or managing other long term health conditions or disabilities.

As a menopause friendly employer, we want to create an environment where those who are experiencing menopause symptoms feel confident to ask for support at work and their managers understand how they can offer support, and together they can work out ways to help staff feel able to keep doing their brilliant work.

To do this we’ve run training courses and published guidance and videos to help people understand more about what the menopause is and its impact at work. We’ve helped staff to support one another through Yammer groups and be able to talk to specially trained Health and Wellbeing Advisers.

Its great to see the progress we’re making. We’ve had excellent feedback, including:

“After attending the brilliant menopause workshop, I felt equipped with the knowledge to approach my GP for HRT medication.”

“The support received from LCC is fabulous regarding the menopause and it should be as it will affect so many workers. I applaud the Council for being so proactive in this area”

“One of the best events I’ve been to, and I have told lots of friends about it and encouraged them to address this in their workplace.”

Out of those who responded to the last menopause survey:

74% of managers had a conversation with an employee regarding menopause

98% of managers stated that they were more aware of the menopause

92% of staff had attended a menopause awareness workshop

What are you planning next for this work?

I’m so pleased that we won the Best Trained Workforce award at the recent Menopause Friendly Employer Awards but I’m ambitious to do more. We need to support our staff and managers to keep talking!

We’ll continue our communication around the menopause in recruitment materials and guidance for staff and managers to make sure it is embedded into practice and all staff are aware of it as a resource.

And we’ll be doing more training. We are just about to launch a Menopause Champion Programme to be the point of contact for staff and managers to get support and guidance. Plus, we’re adding more resources to our learning hub and these will continue to be available.

We’ll also be sharing our learning on our work with other public sector organisations at the PPMA conference in April next year.

We look forward to hearing more from Mandy at #PPMAHR23!

Mandy Baughurst, Learning & Development Advisor, People Services, Learning & Development, Leicestershire County Council

Hello PPMA friends

How symptoms of the menopause affect women in the workplace is an important issue for employers and Angela O’Connor from the HR Lounge, gives some valuable advice on the best ways to support women during this period of their working lives. Angela is a past President of the PPMA (SOCPO) and continues to be a great supporter, having recently delivered a fantastic session for our latest Peer into the Future Cohort.

The menopause

Who wants to talk about the menopause? Not many people it seems unless it is in hushed tones and with a pained expression. Those attitudes have to change and fast not least because menopausal women are the fastest growing demographic in the workforce. Employers who understand the cost of rehiring and re training good staff will understand the economic arguments.

Its not just the economic perspective that should lead the debate though:

Imagine having a condition that has symptoms that can include hot flushes, palpitations, headaches, night sweats and sleep disturbance, fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, mood disturbance, skin irritation and dryness, urinary problems and heavy, irregular periods, and that doesn’t include the psychological symptoms, such as anxiety, low mood, lack of confidence and poor concentration.

Yippee welcome to the menopause. Some women will not experience any symptoms at all (lucky them!) but many do and this has an impact on employers.

By talking about it openly, raising awareness and putting the right support in place, perhaps we could get to a point where menopause is no longer an issue in the workplace at all.

But, today, it’s hidden with potentially significant consequences for both employees and employers.

For employers there are some key issues if your fastest growing demographic in the workforce is experiencing often debilitating symptoms that could impact on their performance, their satisfaction with work, their mental health and ultimately whether they stay at work or not wouldn’t you want to know you were doing everything possible to support them ?

Many line managers say that they don’t feel confident talking about menopause. They don’t know enough about it or how they can help. Unlike maternity where it’s usually clear: a woman gets pregnant, has antenatal appointments, has a baby and returns to work.

It may be more complicated for menopause; every woman’s experience is different. This means that managers need training to understand the range of possibilities and have guidance on the support that their organisation can provide to help.

It’s usually simple, low-cost support, like a desk fan or time off to visit their GP, that helps. Or even just the opportunity to talk about it.

Line managers don’t need to be menopause experts, but they do need to be able to create an ethos where women feel supported.

How a woman manages her menopause symptoms is between her and her GP or menopause specialist, unless it’s affecting her work or she wants to talk about it.

Before you decide that just writing a menopause policy will allow you to tick the box stop and think. There’s lots of good advice out there

Acas has published Menopause at work guidance to help employers and managers support their staff. It includes tips for workers on how to raise any concerns and good practice guidance for employers to help manage menopause at work.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Let’s talk menopause’ resource provides managers with tools on how to effectively support women going through the menopause at work.

The Faculty of Occupational Medicine’s (FOM) Guidance on menopause and the workplace and infographic highlights that nearly eight out of ten menopausal women are in work. FOM also found that the majority of women are unwilling to disclose menopause related health problems to their managers.  The guidance offers practical guidance on how to improve workplace environments.

Researchers from King’s College London and The University of Nottingham have been looking at what working menopausal women really want.

Awareness

Woman want their employers and managers to know what menopause is, the nature of its symptoms, and understand the potential impact of the work environment on menopausal symptoms (and vice versa). This included the fact that hot flushes can often be embarrassing, and that disturbed nights can lead to lack of concentration.

Most women also mentioned the physical work environment. Better awareness here could lead to improved reasonable adjustments. Specific suggestions were:

• Improved ventilation and temperature control
• Readily available cold drinking water
• Well designed, supportive seating
• Desk fans
• Access to rest areas and toilets

Importantly, women were keen for menopause to not always be seen in a negative light. Rhetoric such as ‘affliction’ or ‘condition’ is definitely off limits. Menopause is a normal, natural process, but experienced differently by all women. Therefore, managers should avoid drawing assumptions or generalising. Essentially, employers should never adopt a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.

An important factor for employers to consider is also the temporary nature of menopause. Respondents suggested more recognition of the fact that menopause symptoms eventually pass could help. In particular, as this means they may only require support for a relatively short period of time.

Communication skills and behaviours

Empathy is a key factor in communication, with women citing consideration and concern as something they’d expect from managers. They asked for managers to show respect, to listen and to take concerns seriously. Conversations should be kept strictly private. Indeed, it’s seen as very important that employers do not draw any attention to a woman’s menopause or symptoms.

A number of things were raised in this area which were ‘unhelpful’. These included:

• Forcing women to have conversations they are uncomfortable with
• Patronising, belittling or implying a woman is less good at her job due to menopause
• Flippant, jokey behaviour
• Using terminology such as ‘ladies’ problems’
• Harassing, penalising or criticising women going through menopause
• Avoiding conversations due to a managers’ personal discomfort 

Actions

Effective policies and guidance are important. Many women identified existing policies which could incorporate menopause. These included sickness policies to accommodate menopause symptoms. Time off for medical appointments could also be regarded as ‘authorised absence’ – in many cases they currently aren’t. Embedding a positive culture to women’s health is important, creating an open environment and promoting honest discussion.

Many women highlighted the need for workplace training to equip managers with the confidence, skills and knowledge to support menopause in the workplace.

In olden days , women had to resign when they got married , it was frowned upon to have a baby and a career, there have been so many restrictions on women in employment and thank goodness they have been reducing, lets lead the way in organisations in getting rid of one of the last taboos.

Angela O’Connor, CEO, The HR Lounge.
T +44 (0) 207183 8595
E angela@thehrlounge.co.uk