Menopausal women are the fastest growing workforce demographic. Up to 47% of the UK workforce are women and will experience menopause transition in their lives.

This World Menopause Month, Advocacy Focus is conducting research to see how organisations currently support menopausal women in the workplace.

Registered charity, Advocacy Focus, supports people with health and social care needs, mental ill health, communication difficulties and more, to live the lives they want to live. It also provides training and support to help businesses provide better workplace health and wellbeing initiatives, with an emphasis on ending the stigma associated with mental ill health and female health issues at work.

Justine Hodgkinson says: “As an organisation we care about the mental health and wellbeing of our employees and have taken significant steps to ensure we support their individual needs. We know that many things can affect an employee at work; whether it’s mental ill health or a long term health condition, it’s important that our staff know we are there for them.”

“As our workforce is 90% female, we have made good progress in regards to being menopause aware.  We support and prepare our colleagues in regards to this potentially impactful transition, as we know that around 80% of all women will have symptoms that will impact on them personally and professionally.  As it is world menopause month we wanted to find out what other organisations are doing in regards to this important subject, and crucially, how many are not. We can make a guess from previous statistics and societal norms that the menopause is something seldom talked about, often misunderstood, and sometimes not taken seriously at work or even within the home.”

“This survey is our starting point; we want to know exactly how employers are currently supporting women and if women’s health issues are being taken seriously in the workplace. Using the results of this survey, we will be looking to build a project that encourages organisations across the North West to take their employees’ physical and mental health seriously, tackling the stigma of certain conditions in the workplace.”

The survey will be running throughout Menopause Awareness Month. 

Take the survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1O1paA7CaOYSUC_v68cW8C6NkwKuPXspaDQO8RdyMogY/edit