Firms can help women manage menopause symptoms at work
THIS IS AN EXCITING OPPORTUNITY FOR EMPLOYERS TO SUPPORT WOMEN IN THE PRIME OF THEIR WORKING LIVES. WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE HAVE AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPERTISE.
— JANET KO, MENOPAUSE FOUNDATION CO-FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT
Darlene Mulcahey knew very little about menopause — until it hit her. Over the past few years, the federal government employee has experienced a dizzying array of symptoms, including hot flashes, worsening anxiety, mood swings and heart palpitations. Her productivity at work suffered as she struggled to concentrate for long periods of time or read long excerpts of text.
“It’s scary how you feel,” said Mulcahey, 55. “I wasn’t feeling like myself at all.”
But when she finally spoke with her manager for assistance, he told her he couldn’t relate and didn’t know how to help. “I felt like I was very much alone,” Mulcahey said. Without support, and feeling her symptoms getting worse, she took a medical leave in February 2023.
Menopause typically affects women between the ages of 45 and 55, a time that coincides with their peak earning years. Advocates are calling on Canadian employers to do more to help employees going through menopause, especially as women over 40 make up one quarter of the workforce.
Unmanaged menopause symptoms cost the Canadian economy $3.5 billion annually in lost days of work, productivity and income as women scale back their hours or leave their jobs altogether, according to the Menopause Foundation of Canada.
“This is an exciting opportunity for employers to support women in the prime of their working lives,” said Janet Ko, president and cofounder of the Menopause Foundation. “Women in the workplace have an incredible amount of knowledge, skills and expertise that are very valuable to organizations.”
The menopausal transition signals the end of a woman’s reproductive years and is brought on by the decreased production of hormones estrogen and progesterone. The transition, also known as perimenopause, can last anywhere between two to 12 years and is associated with more than 30 symptoms.
But companies can help workers going through the transition. Talia Varley, physician lead for advisory services at the Cleveland Clinic Canada, said there’s plenty of “low-hanging fruit” for employers looking to create more menopause-inclusive workplaces. For example, they can add menopause to sickness or absence policies or offer flexible work arrangements for high-symptom days.
A range of accommodations within the workplace can also help people cope. Those might include giving employees greater control over works station temperatures, ensuring easy access to washrooms and cold drinking water, investing in uniforms made of breathable fibres and allowing shift workers as-needed bathroom breaks. People experiencing insomnia or other cognitive challenges may need formal accommodation, like a temporary reduction in duties, Varley said.
Employers might also want to host education sessions or resource groups, Ko said. Half of women are “unprepared” for menopause, and less than a quarter feel very knowledgeable about the symptoms, according to the Menopause Foundation. As a result, many don’t know what options exist to improve symptoms, such as lifestyle changes or hormone therapy.
That’s unsurprising, given the social stigma around discussing the phase of life, Ko said. But she said such employer-led education could have kept her from leaving a senior vice-president role after being “truly blindsided” by symptoms that included joint pain, body aches, brain fog, insomnia and hot flashes.
“If I’d understood what was happening sooner and started taking some treatment that was a real game changer in terms of my health and wellness, I would not have left that position,” Ko said.
For Mulcahey, a supportive ear would have made the difference. “All I was looking for (before going on leave) was some type of validation, like ‘thanks for talking to me about this, we’re going to work on it together.’”
Some employers are listening. Dalhousie University offers a monthly menopause resource group spearheaded by Shawna O’hearn, the institution’s director of global health, with the support of the university’s human resources department. “So many employees send me a note saying, ‘I’m so glad (the group) is here, I felt so alone,’ ” she said. “It’s so huge in a workplace for people to feel heard, seen and have their experience validated.”
Dalhousie has also introduced training for managers so they can learn how to support employees, and O’hearn said some leaders have reached out to her for advice on how to talk about menopause with their teams.
Mulcahey spent four months on leave last year, during which she started menopause hormone therapy. After four weeks, she started to see positive changes. “It was the first time in a long time I felt like myself again," she said.
Since returning to work in June, Mulcahey started a menopause support group for federal, provincial and municipal government workers, which now has more than 300 members and meets monthly. She’s also aiming to create a training course for managers.
“People want to talk about it, but they’re just afraid to,” Mulcahey said. “We need to make sure people are comfortable talking about is so they don’t feel they have to leave the workplace.”