City Council helps business wise up to menopause

Organisations ranging from a small dental practice in Leamington Spa to West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service have moved menopause up their workplace agenda this week, thanks to a unique tie up between the city council and women’s health advisors.

Coventry City Council’s business development team invited training company Simply Hormones to talk to its health champion business network about the challenges facing older women in the workforce and what managers could do to support them.

The event was held as part of a programme for employers working towards the Workplace Wellbeing Charter award, a national initiative aimed at organisations of all sizes to demonstrate their commitment to staff health and wellbeing.

Sally Fagan, Simply Hormones Ambassador for the Midlands, said the workshop had highlighted a number of issues.

“The key issue was a reluctance to talk about menopause in the workplace. While one or two of the all-female delegates said they had sympathetic male bosses, others had laughed when they told them they were suffering from menopausal symptoms.

“That has got to change if we want women to work longer and not drop out of the workforce, taking all the experience they have gained with them.”

Coventry City Council business development officer Jenny Duggan, who organized the Simply Hormones workshop, said the true cost of menopause was hidden by the failure of most workplaces to address it.

“It’s a bit like mental health. If no one talks about it, then the perception is that it’s not an issue,” she said.

“Menopause touches on so many of the Workplace Wellbeing Charter objectives – topics around mental health itself, sickness absence, disability legislation and leadership – that it’s definitely a subject other local authorities helping businesses to work towards a Charter award need to address. We’ll certainly be holding the workshop again.”

Thirty-seven organisations, including Jaguar Land Rover, have so far achieved Charter status in the Coventry City Council area, impacting the lives of 57,400 employees.

Sally added: “Several years ago none of those would have talked about mental health or prostate cancer – menopause is the next big issue to be addressed. And if we could just talk about it, we’re half way to making tens of thousands of working women’s lives better.”

–end–                                                                                                          29 June 2017

Notes to Editors:

Simply Hormones was established by leading advocate for women’s health and British Menopause Society Medical Board member, Kathryn Colas. It is the only organisation delivering CPD-accredited training around menopause in the workplace in the UK.

The Workplace Wellbeing Charter was launched in 2012 by Professor Carol Black – herself a champion for more awareness around menopause at work – on behalf of Public Health England. The Charter award gives clear recognition of the positive way in which a business supports its work force. Help and guidance on how to implement any necessary changes are delivered through local authorities.