Guidance on menopause in the workplace

Menopausal women are the fastest growing segment of the workforce. By 2022 it’s estimated that around one in six people in employment will be women over 50.

Are you looking for guidance on how to increase awareness of menopause and perimenopause in your workplace? For too long, menopause has been a taboo in the workplace. Women have suffered in silence with their symptoms, often counting themselves out of career progression opportunities or even quitting successful careers in order to cope.

We offer a range of menopause in the workplace toolkits, training packages and awareness sessions that can help you to:

• Improve employee retention
• Remove barriers to women progressing in their careers 
• Reduce sickness levels
• Reduce employment tribunals when women are discriminated at work due to menopausal symptoms.
• Boost productivity
• Foster a more inclusive and open workplace culture
• Help women feel happier and more engaged at work.

Why is menopause a business issue? 

Menopause predominantly affects women in midlife with 51-years-old the average age of menopause in both the UK & US. 

However, premature menopause can affect women at a much younger age, chemical or surgical menopause can affect women at any age, and transgender and non-binary people may also experience menopause too.

The symptoms of menopause will affect women on average for four years, but sometimes for up to 10 years. These symptoms are both physical and emotional - and while for some women they will be mild, for others they could be severe, long-lasting and debilitating.

Often, these symptoms will begin while a woman is in her 40s, in the prime of a career.

Lost confidence, sick leave and tiredness can leave women feeling unable to fulfil their job demands. 

The fact is that menopause and perimenopause is already impacting women in the workplace:

• 14 million working days are lost in the UK because of menopause and perimenopause.
• Six in 10 menopausal women say it has had a negative impact on their work and research has shown that one in five women has left a job because of it too.
• On average, women say they visit a doctor three times or more before they get the right help and treatment for their symptoms - resulting in additional sick leave from work and anxiety and stress.

Our Founder, Katie Taylor has first-hand experience of trying to cope with severe symptoms of menopause as well as a thriving career.

“I didn’t know I was in perimenopause. It was undiagnosed by my doctor for four years. I was prescribed antidepressants instead for anxiety and low mood yet all the time this was actually symptoms of impending menopause. I was in my mid-40s, successful in my career yet I could not go on working in the end due to these symptoms. In the end, I left my job and gave up my career.”

Katie went on to establish The Latte Lounge in 2016 so that no other woman would needlessly suffer like she did. Katie is passionate about educating and empowering women and businesses with information that is evidence-based and is backed by a team of medical specialists. 

Related: Read more about our Founder Katie Taylor in her story here.

Our services

The Latte Lounge offers a range of support for organisations who want to support their female employees through menopause.

Education, awareness and training

We cover:

• What is menopause? What is perimenopause?
• What are the symptoms of menopause?
• How long does menopause last and who does it affect?
• What are the treatment options for menopause?
• How can workplaces support women in menopause?
• Menopause myths and facts

We deliver all this and more in a format that best suits your organisation:

• Menopause events - keynote presentations on menopause in the workplace followed by a hosted panel discussion with your choice of guests.
• Awareness and training sessions for all employees
• Menopause for managers - tailored information for managers about how they can support employees.
• ‘About you’ workshops - confidential small group workshops for female employees to help them understand and/or manage menopausal symptoms.

Along with all of the events, sessions and workshops we can provide a package of resource materials for you to use internally to sustain knowledge and awareness. 

Policy and guidance

• Menopause policy creation
• Consultation on best practice
• Stakeholder engagement planning and support
• Internal comms support to rollout the policy and generate awareness & understanding

Why work with The Latte Lounge?

• Personal experience and empathy - our sessions are led by our Founder Katie Taylor who suffered from debilitating perimenopausal symptoms.
• We are backed by a medical advisory team. All of our content is verified by medical specialists and evidence-based. We already have a vast resource hub for perimenopause and menopause support.
• We have a growing network of global menopause specialists - no matter where your business is in the world we can connect you and your employees to the right organisations and specialists in your part of the world.
• Our extensive experience supporting and signposting women through menopause - we help hundreds of women a month through our community of 25,000+ women.

We'd be delighted to offer our support to your organisation - please do get in touch to find out more about how we can help.