What a shocking statistic and employers should be hanging their heads in shame.

A new report from the Women's and Equalities Committee on menopause shows that the UK is 'haemorrhaging talent'. 1 MILLION women have been forced to leave their jobs because of menopause and UK employers have failed them. But what about the role HR as played in this mass exodus - have they contributed to employer failures?

In this blog post, we'll share some tips for how HR professionals can improve career options for top talent and female leaders during menopause. From harnessing demographic human capital advantages to creating menopause business strategies, we'll cover everything you need to know to help menopausal women and your companies thrive.

ACKNOWLEDGE MENOPAUSE STRATEGY COMPETENCY GAPS ACROSS HR TEAMS

Menopause as a business strategy and talent differential is still a relatively new requirement for employers. And for HR teams, the primary focus has so far been mainly reactionary - providing symptoms and awareness sessions along with rolling out menopause policies.

While this is an important first step, it is also vital to ensure that HR teams have the strategic competencies in place to use menopause as a human capital differential to be unlocked to drive business advantage.

Many HR professionals have been given two hard choices to deal with upon direction from their Exec Boards:

Provide a policy and see how it goes - it’s not seen as a business priority
Not being able to influence boards successfully to secure the relevant investment budgets for external menopause expertise an expectation to produce miracles for menopausal women and the wider workplace on a shoestring!

But there is also a third challenge, rooted in good faith, but is strangling meaningful menopause change in the workplace. Often, HR & D&I professionals are either entering into are going through menopause themselves. Depending on their own personal experiences, it has a bearing on their approach to menopause in the workplace requirements.

But the focus so far has been reactionary, often as quick responses have been needed for the tsunami of increased demand from workplace colleagues requiring menopause solutions. However, there are wide ranging competency gaps across HR teams, many of who don’t have the experience or simply don’t know how to influence leaders on menopause, who don’t have any substantive data on menopause to influence leaders or simply don’t know how to create dynamic attraction and retention business strategies for menopausal working women that harnesses human capital opportunities to drive business growth which ignites and engages decision makers in their companies.

And many HR professional are unable to quantify the ROI on the ‘symptoms sessions’ and the ‘menopause friendly badge’ that they have so heavily and often so personally invested in as they too are experiencing menopause symptoms, only to find their boards are frustrated at the amount of time and money invested with no hard data on top and bottom line returns.

HR MUST EDUCATE ITS LEADERS

Menopausal women are the fastest growing demographic in the workplace and boards of directors should be encouraged to see the long-term value in supporting menopausal women. Rather than treating menopausal women as liabilities, employers should recognize that they can continue to be instrumental in fostering an organization’s success.

Studies show that companies with greater gender diversity perform better financially; when they retain experienced female leaders who navigate menopause successfully, these companies benefit from increased competitiveness and profits.

So let's get some stats down to help you in the persuasive conversation.

According to The Fawcett Society, up to an additional 1.8 million women in the UK are likely to leave the workforce because of menopause-related issues. This could potentially result in a loss of £17 billion in productivity and wages each year. Furthermore, recent research has shown that four out of five employers have reported increased absenteeism among menopausal women. What financial impact will that be having on your business?

And if you can’t get buy in from the board, invest in a session with a strategic partner who can. They will help you focus on how to harness menopause as a demographic business and talent advantage and address your board and build out business solutions for you.

HR is failing to address the unique challenges faced by women leaders during menopause

Women all over the world face unique challenges when it comes to navigating their leadership careers during menopause. Not only do they have to deal with the physical and emotional symptoms of menopause, but they also have to maintain their positions in a largely male-dominated business landscape.

Unfortunately, HR professionals are often failing women leaders during this time by focusing solely on the symptoms of menopause rather than providing specific and external executive support that equips top leaders with strategies for continued development of their leadership careers along with tools to manage menopause and maintain BAU.

By providing appropriate strategies for continued career advancement opportunities for women leaders going through menopause, organizations would not only be maximizing the potential of their existing workforce, but would also be creating a positive working environment where everyone is respected regardless of age or gender.

There are numerous advantages of having mature and experienced female workers who are going through or nearing the end of their menopausal transition. These women bring with them an impressive body of knowledge and skills, including a wealth of experience in the corporate world; greater emotional intelligence, which is essential for effective people management; better work ethic and loyalty to the organization; and increased commitment to health and safety initiatives.

They women leaders are often highly paid and hard to replace, bringing with it a increased challenges of attracting talent of that calibre into vacant positions and significant recruitment or head-hunting costs.

HR ISN’T championing menopause related benefitS

So how many employers are offering menopause related workplace benefits currently?

A study by the National Women's Health Network found that only 18 percent of employers offer menopause-related benefits as part of their workplace wellbeing and rewards programs. This leaves a large majority of women without the necessary support to manage their symptoms and keep their careers on track. Especially senior women vital to the future of your company.

This is a low figure considering that many women are reaching menopause while they’re still in the workforce, so it’s clear there is an opportunity here for employers to do more.

In a recent survey of women executives conducted by The Menopause Maze:

73% of exec women said they would stay or move to a company that provided them with a professional, external menopause career coach

That’s a big number and a statistic that talent, HR, wellbeing and reward professionals must act on!

And with high profile women business leaders speaking out about the rise of menopause depression and suicide this is a critical issue for HR professionals that goes way beyond a menopause policy.

Organizations today are recognizing the importance of offering comprehensive employee benefits. One such benefit that has become increasingly popular is executive menopause career coaching, especially for menopausal women leaders. External career coaching provides a valuable service to help exec women leaders transition into their next stage at work and in their leadership life, and it can be particularly helpful for those going through menopause.

It is therefore important for employers to start investing in programmes and initiatives that provide the necessary career support to exec and women leaders during menopause. By doing so, not only can you ensure that your women leaders are supported and encouraged to continue their leadership journey, but also ensure that your organization will reap the rewards of retaining their talents.

HR NEED TO FOCUS MORE ON MENOPAUSE WITHIN GLOBAL TALENT STRATEGIES

Talking of talent, in a recent Forbes article they stated that tackling the talent crisis is one of the key business trends for 2023, and improving menopause career offerings in the workplace can be an important step towards creating a more inclusive work culture that attracts talent.

And, by offering comprehensive strategies that attract, retain and sustain female leaders during menopause, organizations are also taking positive steps to ensure they have a talented, diverse workforce that actively values different ages and stages of life driving connected D&I, talent and commercial returns.

HR NEEDS HELP WITH MENOPAUSE

To forestall these negative outcomes, Danielle Harmer, chief people officer at Aviva, said all organisations should start to break the taboos around menopause and start to reshape how it is viewed within the business: “Partner with an organisation that specialises in menopause and finally, educate leaders.”

Menopause is still relatively uncharted strategic requirement for businesses so HR must source menopause partners who are strategy experts in the field of business transformation AND menopause with evidence based methods.

It’s important that your partner can help you shape the conversation to enable introduction of menopause benefits to be offered as part of your reward and wellbeing strategies too.

And source specialist, external executive menopause career coaching for your top female leaders in menopause that offers professional expertise on maintaining careers, changing roles within an organisation, or even embarking on an entirely new career path if desired. Menopausal women may find themselves facing these decisions at some point during their menopause transition and a career coach can provide insight on how best to navigate them while keeping their career goals in mind.

For HR teams looking to improve menopause support at their organisation who want to partner with a world-class organisation with evidence based methods that ignites strategic results and rapid returns hen look no further.

The Menopause Maze™ is the partner of choice for ambitious HR leaders wanting to deliver fast-track menopause business results that accelerate growth, inclusion, wellbeing, D&I and ESG.

WHAT DOES THE MENOPAUSE MAZE DELIVER?

If you are an employer then The Menopause Maze™ method is a game changer for your workplace.

Here's what the programme includes:

Demographic Diagnostics: We provide a comprehensive diagnostic tools on how to access and create strategic talent and commercial advantages to attract and retain menopause talent

Development: Our bespoke development programmes help organisations unleash the potential of senior women and equip line managers with new conversation and feedback methods from our evidence based research.

Career Coaching: Fast-track for senior and exec women to keep their careers high gear through all stages of menopause with our award-winning NOPAUSE™ career coaching programme.

Community: Join our exclusive membership community of senior women leaders who are maximising their career opportunities in menopause whilst growing and leading their companies.

DOWNLOAD THE MENOPAUSE MAZE METHOD

DO YOU WANT TO SKYROCKET YOUR D&I RETURNS?

The Menopause Maze ™ helps organisations unleash its biggest human capital opportunity by retaining and maintaining the careers of menopausal women and delivering exceptional growth, ESG and commercial returns.

Get in touch today and see how we can help you transform your culture and your commercials.

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