“Secondly, over the next decade, around 40 per cent of the leaders in our industry will be experiencing or heading for menopause themselves.”Īlso in need of workplace support are those going through traumatic events such as losing a baby or struggling to start a family. “At IAPI we also feel it’s vitally important to raise awareness of the topic among our members because of the role we play in educating the public through our work,” she adds. I thought that too – wrongly – and got a rude awakening because one of the main things that suddenly affected me was being unable to sleep. “I think there’s a tendency to assume that your experience won’t be as bad. This was usually on zoom during Covid and yes, some people cringed, or ignored me or looked uncomfortable, but I felt it was important to be up front,” she says. “If I got a hot flush that was unsettling, I asked people for a moment to recover. Stoney has been very open with colleagues about her own menopause experience. Increasing awareness and educating people is an imperative.” Menopausal women are wives, mothers, sisters, colleagues, line managers, direct reports and peers. Around 50 per cent of the population will go through menopause, and the other 50 per cent may be impacted by it. ![]() "With growing female workforce participation, greater diversity and inclusion, and the pension age increasing, becoming a menopause friendly workplace is the right thing to do," says IAPI chief executive Charley Stoney. IAPI, the advertising industry body in Ireland, recently hosted an open seminar on tackling menopause taboos. Menopause isn’t a disability, but for some the symptoms are so bad that they become seriously debilitating.” Also in the UK there has been a big rise in women taking cases against employers on the grounds of gender, age and disability discrimination. “In the UK they’re already going down the road of legislating for formal menopause policies and, if it happens there, it will happen here. “The first is duty of care to employees, the second is tackling absenteeism, the third is talent retention and the fourth is legislative risk. “There are really four things driving developments at this point,” Dignam adds. We’re trying to encourage companies to do something similar with ‘menopause buddies’ who will champion the cause. “Not that long ago, the idea of mental health champions at work was new but it’s been very successful. ![]() “One of the questions we ask companies is how menopause friendly their workplace is and from there we design polices to provide the necessary support,” Dignam says. ![]() Over half said their performance at work was affected a little by their symptoms while a third said it was affected a lot – not something employers can afford to ignore given 350,000 of the 570,000 women in the menopausal cohort are in paid employment.” Almost 40 per cent had missed work because of their symptoms but felt unable to tell their employer the real reason. “Some 12 per cent of women had given up work because of their symptoms while another 40 per cent had thought about it. “We did a survey last September with Ibec which provided the first Irish data on how women feel as they transition through menopause at work,” Dignam says. What's needed according to Loretta Dignam, founder of the Menopause Hub, is a more sympathetic workplace, and she believes organisations need to step up and offer meaningful support to women at this often challenging time in their lives. It’s a life stage not an illness yet the menopause is so difficult for some women that they quit work or consider doing so because of debilitating symptoms.
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