Yesterday, Henpicked Menopause In The Workplace, the UK’s leading menopause experts, led an insightful webinar for Community members and friends, about making our workplaces menopause friendly.
With women living and staying in work for longer, menopause is increasingly a workplace issue. Many of our members will be going through it themselves, and for those that aren’t, you are likely to have a partner, friend or colleague who is experiencing the menopause. There are 3.5 million menopausal women in work which is predicted to grow.
Sadly, 1 in four women experience serious symptoms of the menopause and the same proportion consider leaving work because of their symptoms. However, with the right support in place, menopause can be managed.
That starts with taking simple steps to make our workplaces more friendly. This could be agreeing small tweaks like cooler uniforms to help deal with hot flushes. It could be support for lifestyle changes to manage anxiety or depression but it’s important to remember that everyone’s experience of menopause is different.
We hope that yesterday’s webinar was another great step towards breaking the stigma that sadly still surrounds the menopause in some places and enabling open conversation.
We know that so many of our members are currently experiencing symptoms of the menopause and welcome the opportunity to talk about it openly with their colleagues and bosses. As Debbie Garlick, who led the webinar explained: “this is a conversation waiting to happen”. So, whether you’re experiencing the menopause or not, now’s the time to educate yourself.
Lauren Crowley, head of Equalities at Community said: “I was delighted to have so many women join us to talk about the menopause. We know from research we’ve done that many members feel uncomfortable talking about the menopause with their managers and many feel unsupported at work. That’s something we at Community are committed to changing.”
We are grateful to Henpicked Menopause In The Workplace for coming and sharing their expertise with us. Thanks to those who attended, and we hope you’ll take the learning back into your own workplaces.
If you missed the webinar but want to find out more about the menopause there are resources available to you as a Community member. You can also invite Henpicked Menopause In The Workplace into your workplace; they run sessions for employees, line managers and HR departments. You can find out more information from their website.
If you are a member of Community and need help or advice, please contact us at servicecentre@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.
To join Community, visit here.
© Community Trade Union 2024