This October marks 16 years of World Menopause Day, but anannual webinar and a This October marks 16 years of World Menopause Day, but an annual webinar and a LinkedIn appreciation post still won’t meet your employees' real needs.

Supporting your employees through their menopause journey can feel overwhelming, but we’ve got you. We’ve put together a gold standard menopause support checklist to use when building your employee benefits package. So, by the time the next World Menopause Day rolls around, you can genuinely say that your organisation is a menopause-friendly workplace.

Creating a menopause friendly work environment is all about ensuring employees have access to the right support at the right time. Menopause is a natural stage of life that every other working person will face. As a gold-standard employer it is your responsibility to create a workplace that achieves this seamlessly and effectively.

With our menopause support checklist, you would offer your employees key policies, access to clinical support, a raised awareness of menopause symptoms and many more incentives to continue their employment with you. But above all, you would create a genuinely menopause friendly workspace where your employees feel valued, supported, and empowered to reach their full potential through every challenge the menopause brings.

Understanding the impact of menopause

To get started, it’s crucial that HR teams understand exactly how menopause support can impact their employees

And just how important menopause support in the workplace is. With those foundations (and hopefully a solid understanding of menopause in the workplace) in place, the next step is to understand how to build your internal business case to present to stakeholders.

To help you understand the impact menopause can have on your people and their work, we’ve highlighted our recent menopause report below.  We surveyed over 3,000 women on workplace support surrounding the menopause and the results were alarming, with 13% looking for new jobs that offer menopause support 

In order to make building an internal business case for menopause support easier for you, we’ve also linked our stats sheet. This is a key resource that compiles the most important and compelling menopause statistics that you’ll need.

Read: The future of workplace wellbeing: How we can better support menopause

Download: Building a business case for reproductive health benefits

Watch: Register for our upcoming webinar Employee benefits that make a meaningful difference: How menopause support can help attract and retain women, and reduce staff turnover.

Educating managers and senior leadership

First things first, educate your leadership team, your managers and your people.

Menopause is not simply a “women’s issue” and educating your leadership team and people is the crucial first step to providing the appropriate wellness support. It is especially important to raise menopause awareness and train managers and HR leaders, so they understand what the menopause entails, to best support employees going through it.

For further information, read our article on why menopause training for managers should be an HR priority.‍

How to educate your managers

As a starting point, download our Guide for HR managers: Understanding menopause challenges in the workplace. The guide will provide an overview of:

• The life stages and symptoms of menopause, such as brain fog and hot flushes
• The impact symptoms can have on people's personal and work lives
• How to support a colleague who is affected by menopause

Offer line manager training events on how to support someone with menopause challenges. Use this HR guide to menopause: How to support a colleague through menopausal symptoms to structure your own internal line manager training sessions or use a reliable and informed partner like

• Turning menopause awareness into action: Training for managers on menopause
• Understanding the impact of menopause symptoms and supporting its challenges in the workplace
• The four stages menopause (including the menopause transition) every manager needs to know

Menopause workplace support has also become a legal obligation in recent years. Check our out article on Employment law and Menopause to ensure you're company is compliant! 

How to build an open workplace culture

In order to retain top talent and boost performance, we must first open up conversations about menopause and build a menopause friendly culture where employees feel comfortable seeking help. Here are three simple steps to put this into action:

1. Leadership Buy In

Having senior leadership members talk openly about menopause or perimenopause plays a vital role in building an open and menopause friendly workplace culture. By discussing the menopause support you offer during monthly team or company-wide meetings, other employees will have the confidence to discuss their own lived experiences of menopause.

2. Menopause Employee Resource Group (ERG)

Launching a menopause employee resource group will allow employees who are directly impacted by menopause to connect by sharing useful resources. Follow these steps to launch a menopause ERG:

• Use an employee engagement survey or focus group to make sure a menopause ERG is something your people actually want
• Reach out to a few key employees who will act as the founding members and initial leaders for the group
• Define what the purpose of the group is and who it is for from the start
• Get financial and from senior leadership with executive presence in the group and provide all ERGs with a budget
• Create a private group or channel on your intranet, slack or internal HR system where it is easy and join

3. Menopause Champion

Have a dedicated menopause champion in the HR team. This a named individual who is able to offer 1-2-1 support or advice for anyone who is strongly impacted by menopause symptoms.

Read more about how to help employees struggling with menopause at work on our blog.

Menopause Friendly Accreditation - something else to consider

Menopause Friendly Accreditation - Those employers who wish to go one step further can apply for The Menopause Friendly Accreditation . which is, in effect, a kitemark of excellence for menopause in the workplace issued by Menopause Friendly.

Discover how your company can receive a menopause friendly accreditation here

How to educate your people

Ensuring your people have access to educational resources on menopause is a crucial first step for them to understand what menopause is, why they might be experiencing these symptoms, and how to access further treatment when needed.

Educating and offering menopause support is not only good for employee wellbeing and engagement but also offers lots of long-term benefits to your organisation too. Read more about Why menopause employee benefits are crucial for retaining women.

Here are a couple of things you can do with Fertifa to educate people on menopause:

1. Launch a series of monthly or quarterly menopause webinars with a medical expert to give your team the opportunity to learn what menopause is, how to manage the symptoms, and ask an expert any questions they may have.

2. Use an app, like Fertifa, with on-demand educational content so your people can learn about menopause, their symptoms, and how to manage them at a time that is convenient for them.

A policy is vital

To ensure managers, leadership and team members are all on the same page and know exactly what each individual is entitled to. 

If you have not already got one, start writing a menopause policy using our Menopause Policy Template to frame your own. The template includes:

• Why your employees need a menopause policy
• Flexible working accommodations or reasonable adjustments you should put in place for people impacted by menopause symptoms
• Practicalities around how to book time off
• How much time off your employees should be offered
• How employees can access additional support you have available 

When you are creating your first menopause policy, survey your population to see how many people are impacted by menopause challenges, and ask them what types of support they would benefit from. You can do this as part of your annual engagement survey or as a stand-alone survey. Use a tool like Typeform, Survey Monkey, Survey Sparrow, or BambooHR.

Make it as easy as possible for your employees:

• Only ask essential questions.
• Set the survey live for a few weeks so as many employees as possible will have a chance to respond.
• Send reminders and ask line managers to prompt responses too. 

Here are a few more resources which illustrate the importance of a menopause policy for creating a gold-standard workplace for menopausal women.

Watch: Our recent webinar on how menopause support can help attract and retain women in senior positions.

Read: This blog post on the most important things to think about before writing your menopause policy.

Download: This guide on the five key things to think about before writing your menopause policy, if you’ve not already started drafting your own.

Support your people with gold standard clinical care

Offer medical support and advice to employees who are affected by menopause and perimenopause symptoms

The best way you can ensure employees dealing with menopause stay productive at work is to provide them with direct access to clinical support and advice from experts to help manage their symptoms.

Employees who are in the early stages of perimenopause should be able access advice on what to expect and lifestyle changes that can help improve symptoms. If the symptoms progress, provide access to specialist menopause doctors for in depth consultations and prescriptions for HRT, if required. Best in class employee benefits for menopause also cover the cost of HRT prescriptions.

You may be able to supplement your health insurance with a menopause add on, or you could use a dedicated reproductive health benefits provider, like Fertifa, for comprehensive menopause benefits.

Fertifa patients have unlimited access to chat messages or video calls with a menopause expert. Be the Gold-Standard by covering the costs of:

• Doctor consultations
• Menopause testing kits
• Private or NHS Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) prescriptions
• Holistic treatments such as Acupuncture, Reflexology, Nutritional Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. 

Learn more about Fertifa’s menopause support here.

Let’s deep dive into what the gold standard of clinical support looks like here and then bring Fertifa in right at the end