Australian women lose $17 billion in earnings and superannuation annually due to challenges related to (peri)menopause, highlighting the need for organisations to prioritise menopause support as a core component of their gender equality agendas.

Melissa MacGowan was at the peak of her HR leadership career when she had to quit her job due to debilitating menopause symptoms.  

“The symptoms are different for every woman, but I was experiencing insomnia, mood disturbance, acne, hair loss and vertigo when I was presenting to leaders. There was a lot going on. To say I didn’t quite feel myself is an understatement,” says MacGowan.  

Other common symptoms that women experience include brain fog, anxiety, joint pain, psychological symptoms and disturbed sleep patterns. 

“I was 44 at the time and while I’d led significant change in the workplace, menopause was definitely not a change I was prepared for or able to manage at the time.”  

MacGowan is certainly not alone. Research suggests that 25 per cent of women experience (peri)menopause symptoms that profoundly impact their daily working lives, which equates to $17 billion in lost earnings and superannuation each year.  Separate research from the UK, which surveyed 2000 working women ages 40-60,  found 23 per cent were considering resigning due to the impacts of menopause – that’s around 3.5 million women in the UK alone.

 This demonstrates that workplaces need to treat menopause as a key pillar in their gender equality and leadership agenda, not just a biological change at an individual level. 

Shifting the narrative

As a result of her personal experience, MacGowan felt compelled to help other women experiencing (peri)menopause at work, setting up the MENO Collective to help give women support and agency around their health so they can continue to thrive in their careers.  

“I wanted to shift the negative narrative around menopause and the outcomes for women who have worked really hard to get to where they are and have so much to offer their workplaces. 

“Workplaces don’t have to solve this for women, but they can certainly benefit from being part of the conversation and making it easier for women to access support so they have a more optimistic career outlook. That is a win-win.” 

Encouragingly, it seems more organisations will be having these important conversations, following the release of the recent senate inquiry report into the issues related to menopause and perimenopause. 

“I think [the report] validated the really diverse experiences of women, which have often been unheard, unseen and overlooked,” says MacGowan. 

“While I’d led significant change in the workplace, menopause was definitely not a change I was prepared for or able to manage at the time.” – Melissa MacGowan, founder, MENO Collective

The inquiry showed that there are different views on the extent to which menopause is affecting women at work, says MacGowan. 

“I think it’s a good thing that we’re having a bit of a debate around this because, to me, it demonstrates that this is becoming a normalised conversation. 

“We’ve made great progress around awareness and support during the reproductive years, the good and the challenging things that happen for men and women, now we’re on the cusp of understanding and supporting the post reproductive years where people are at or near the peak of their career. 

“Women are not broken; they don’t need to be fixed. But I do think they need support navigating the menopause transition on top of everything else. Seasoned women have so much to offer. We need to acknowledge we are emerging from menopause being taboo and misunderstood.” 

HR and leaders’ role in addressing menopause at work 

The workplace is a vehicle for improved awareness and outcomes regarding (peri)menopause, which ultimately leads to better talent and business outcomes, says MacGowan.  

 However, she stresses that this work can’t sit with HR alone because they are already balancing an immense workload of proactive and reactive work, she says. 

“This means many [HR practitioners] are juggling an immense amount of priorities. I don’t think HR has ever been busier or more impactful.” 

Read HRM’s article ‘6 ways to move from reactive to proactive HR’. 

 Therefore, it’s important for HR practitioners to be targeted and specific about which levers to pull to generate effective people and performance outcomes. 

“It’s about influencing balanced education for managers, providing safe resources and places for women to get the support they need. 

“It’s also important to go beyond shining a light on the negative impact of symptoms at work which can reinforce stigma and fear, causing high-achieving women in the workplace to just push on to their own detriment – which is what I did,” says MacGowan. 

HR practitioners can also empower employee resource groups and champion the intersectional perspective by designing initiatives in collaboration with women and experts.  

“We’ve got neurodivergence to consider, for example. And we know that women of colour have a longer and more difficult (peri)menopause. We need to start making these conversations more inclusive.” 

 See this guide for more resources around supporting ethnic minority groups through (peri)menopause. 

Reproductive leave 

 A key recommendation from the government inquiry was to further research and consider the introduction of paid gender-inclusive reproductive leave as part of the National Employment Standards (see recommendation 8). 

 The 2023 ‘Attitudes to Menopause and Menstrual leave’ report suggests that, of the 3500+ Australian women who were surveyed, two in three women of reproductive age (65 per cent) agreed with the statement: “Women have the right to additional paid leave for menopause”.  

However, women at the midlife stage (44 per cent) and older women (26 per cent) – those who were more likely to be menopausal or postmenopausal – were significantly less likely to agree with this statement. 

MacGowan can appreciate this and says the fear that many women often feel regarding accessing menopause-specific leave policies can be a deterrent. 

“Sometimes there can be anger or fear from women when [organisations] assume that’s what they want,” she says. “I’ve always enjoyed the work of Marian Baird, who is a professor of gender employment and employment relations [at the University of Sydney]. She says flexibility is essential and wonders if highly gendered policies might take the outcomes for working women backwards.” 

This isn’t to say it wouldn’t work well for many organisations, just that it might not be a blanket solution.  

“When it comes to menopause specific policies or flexibility, I certainly would encourage consultation within the workplace.” 

A more effective starting point would be to assess your current organisational data and view the insights holistically, says MacGowan. 

“If we’re going to go ahead with policies in an organisation that includes something like [menopause] leave, then it’s going to show up on the P&L, and that brings its own judgement with it.  

“So we also want to look at other data, such as considering the financial impacts of losing our valued, experienced talent. We want to think about the cost of presenteeism. We want to look at costs like these, which are less tangible, and ask: ‘What’s the cost of doing nothing?'” 

Laying the groundwork 

 Whether change is enacted via policy, process or culture shift, the key lies in flexibility. 

“The menopause transition demands flexibility, open-mindedness from the women going through it, from our health practitioners, from our managers and colleagues and from our families. 

 “Flex and hybrid models are really good for women when there’s no negative backlash,” she adds. 

This is why current debates about the scope of flexible work arrangements need to stay on the agenda. 

“Some organisations are shifting towards less flexible arrangements, but I challenge them to consider if where people work is the answer to the real problems they’re facing.  

“So often it comes back to managers being overwhelmed and having gaps in their capability to manage the day to day, including their team and the personal issues that we know are coming into the workplace.” 

“Workplaces don’t have to solve this for women, but they can certainly benefit from being part of the conversation.” – Melissa MacGowan, founder, MENO Collective

 Investment in leadership and management skills will help to move the dial. 

“The research is pretty clear that most women are not comfortable discussing their menopause symptoms with their immediate manager or supervisor. [A solution to this could] be running awareness sessions, providing manager training or programs tailored to support women experiencing menopause at work.   

“Flexibility and autonomy are key from patterns and hours of work to temperature control and uniform requirements. Consider the day-to-day lived experiences of the women in your workplace and meet them where they are at.”  

Critical to any action in this space is a foundation of psychological safety, she adds. 

“When we’re developing leaders and managers, how can we make it safe for them to ask questions about some of the tricky stuff? The barriers, the judgments and the biases? I experienced internalised ageism myself when I first heard I was in menopause.  

“HR can really help facilitate a more nuanced, data-driven and humanistic approach to equip leaders rather than HR feeling like they are the ones responsible for culture and compliance.” 

In organisations where the groundwork of inclusion and psychological safety is not yet laid, MacGowan says starting with training managers might not be the appropriate first step.  

“[In those circumstances], it might be more appropriate to give support to the people who need it most first, which is the women. Providing them with resources and safe spaces to connect the dots, get answers and practical information to own and manage their health is a game-changer.”

Positive outcomes of menopause 

Despite the way (peri)menopause is often portrayed in the news and media, there can be really positive experiences to come out of it, says MacGowan. 

“I felt like I’d lost my edge for a moment, but I was wrong. You can come out stronger, more purposeful and more energised. It’s important to remember that menopause doesn’t mean you’re done.

“I am cautious around binary advice for women or workplaces. We don’t need to talk about women’s confidence all the time, but we do need to recognise that these women have a lot of value to add to the continued growth of their organisations. Support to manage their menopause transition unlocks the talent advantage.

“I hope women in their early 30s reading this can think: ‘I’m not scared now that I have a better understanding of what’s coming, and I’m going to be a bit more prepared for it.’ My generation wasn’t prepared; we need to change that for the next generation of leaders.” 

Unpack more important diversity, equity and inclusion topics at AHRI’s DEI Week webinar series, starting from the 18th of November. Learn more about the program or sign up today.