Menopause & Midlife Support
Midlife transitions, such as the menopause, affect a significant proportion of the female workforce, often when these individuals hold senior responsibility within organisations and have deep-rooted knowledge of operations.
“Ageism isn’t the same for everyone. For example, women face more age discrimination than men do, at every stage in their career.”.
Despite these facts, many workplaces still treat the menopause as a private issue instead of something that affects the organisation. The symptoms of the menopause are wide-ranging, but their impacts can be severe, especially when unsupported by leaders.
As with many personal transitions, individuals still have to manage these changes quietly and make significant adjustments to avoid being perceived as less capable by colleagues. Supporting menopause and midlife transitions isn’t about medicalising work, but acknowledging the reality many women face and reducing unnecessary strain so that capability can be managed. Mentoring through Talking Talent helps leaders reduce isolation to ensure those ingrained within the organisation feel supported when these transitions occur.
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When experience and strain collide
Issues affecting those approaching midlife, such as the menopause, often coincide at points in people’s careers when they are dealing with increased responsibility at work.
Individuals may be managing senior roles or entire teams while navigating physical and cognitive changes that can affect their ability to do their job comfortably. This scenario creates a collision.
This combination of experience and strain can feel destabilising for senior leaders who feel a sense of responsibility to their team but are fundamentally struggling. This is amplified when there isn’t a structure in place to raise issues or discuss them.
People may start to question their competence or confidence, thinking of it as a personal deficit instead of the structural problem that it represents, one which prevents women in particular from raising concerns with senior leaders.
Recognising these issues and periods in people’s lives allows organisations to retain talent and support them, rather than losing them through quiet attrition.
The cost of silence and stigma
There is still a great deal of stigma and silence around menopause in the corporate environment. Very often, however, this lack of open conversation, or comfort around these issues, is not a deliberate desire to avoid them.
Leaders, particularly male ones, worry about saying the wrong thing or crossing personal boundaries in a way that makes the situation worse. Avoidance, unfortunately, isn’t productive in modern organisations.
Avoiding the conversation leaves individuals, already going through a difficult time, to navigate these symptoms and the impact they have on people’s mental health alone. All this does is reinforce the outdated idea that this struggle should be kept hidden for fear of upsetting the organisational balance.
Stigma towards menopause can also increase, ensuring it remains framed as a weakness rather than a normal life transition, which many women will go through in life.
Addressing stigma doesn’t require total disclosure, either. Solving this problem doesn’t mean women need to explain everything they’re going through. It’s more about normalising the language to reduce the fear around the topic and create an environment where it can be brought up through formal and informal channels.
“When employees experience belonging in the workplace, they are better able to deal with challenges and stress”
The role of managers in midlife support
When people are going through problems at work, be it the menopause or otherwise, their manager is often the first point of contact. Many male leaders, in particular, still feel ill-equipped to respond to concerns around the menopause.
This lack of knowledge or guidance results in managers inadvertently minimising the concerns of women because they don’t have the appropriate response to hand. It also leads to inconsistent advice that relies on the knowledge of different managers rather than a consistent, codified approach.
Clearly, this sort of stress, both on the leader and the person raising concerns, increases strain and reinforces feelings of invisibility.
Investing in coaching led by our team of experts supports managers to hold respectful conversations that remain appropriate without them needing to become medical experts. On an emotional level, leaders can respond with empathy while retaining clarity around role expectations, too.
Support becomes far more predictable and far less risky when managers feel confident they have the tools to offer the support needed.
Retaining experience through transition
Midlife transitions often happen to people when they are at their most valuable to the organisation. They have deep knowledge of daily operations, are often asked to give advice, and provide stability thanks to years of service.
As a result, losing people with all this knowledge represents a significant loss of talent for an organisation that fails to take menopause-related issues seriously.
In addition, when organisations don’t support menopause or other midlife realities, the reasons people exit the business aren’t ever put down to organisational failure, but because they personally weren’t able to cope.
Thoughtful, structured support throughout the organisation signals to those going through these issues that their experience is valued, and they are not expendable. With this in mind, individuals are more likely to remain engaged when they feel understood. Retention of this experienced talent improves when people can navigate personal change without having to sacrifice their dignity or professional credibility.
‘69% of employees feel their boss impacts their mental
health more than a therapist or doctor.’‘
FMCG
Our Partnership with KellanovaWe have a great relationship with Talking Talent, what I was most impressed with is their ability to flex and customize the program to fit our needs.
Technology
Our Partnership with SiemensWe have a great relationship with Talking Talent, what I was most impressed with is their ability to flex and customize the program to fit our needs.
Retail
Our Partnership with M&SWe have a great relationship with Talking Talent, what I was most impressed with is their ability to flex and customize the program to fit our needs.
Creating conditions where people don’t have to cope alone
When organisations acknowledge that menopause and midlife transitions are part of working life, people are more able to stay connected and effective.
Don’t lose experienced people because they’ve had to suffer key life moments in silence. Get in touch with our team today.