job. But then you don’t get any support and then the worst thing happens. You really do feel like you can’t do it anymore and then you leave.” In testimony recognisable by women who have struggled
to get support, or who have left the workforce due to their physiological symptoms, she showed what is possible with the right support and awareness. Davina McCall described the moments of brain fog in live interviews, broken nights’ sleep and anxiety relating to her identity and future working life, and how she was eventually prescribed life-changing HRT. As importantly, she highlighted how menopause can affect everyone at work or at home – colleagues and partners – and is a natural part of the human ageing process, which often remains another underserved area of the workplace wellbeing and inclusion agenda.
BEST PRACTICES FOR RAISING MENOPAUSE AWARENESS AT WORK To better support women during menopause, and to help retain women’s skills and talents and work, international employers like BAE Systems Maritime & Land and Serco are committed to improving menopause support through allyship. They are sharing the government strategy’s message that for all women everywhere, regardless of ethnicity, geography, social economic or sector, health challenges mid-career can be addressed and supported.
They are doing this by: • sharing their own best practice • policy creation • line management training • making adjustments • reviewing uniforms • running menopause cafes and safe spaces for everyone to talk and that promote awareness of menopause across all generations
• one-to-one support, through existing employee assistance programmes, for example.
Vicky Bawa, head of diversity, equity and inclusion at BAE Systems Maritime and Land, which partners with the Ministry of Defence; Donna Taylor, Serco Business
Services’s head of IT risk & assurance – data, digital & technology; and the CIPD’s Rachel Suff and Claire McCartney joined Helen Tomlinson in the Day One panel discussion to talk through the practical ways they are better supporting everyone – men, women and non- binary people – at work. At BAE Systems Maritime and Land, Vicky Bawa has
been a key role model and set up a series of grassroots menopause cafes, starting in the UK. “I didn’t really know what I was going to do other than talk about my own personal journey. It’s surprising just how powerful that is. Since then, we’ve set up a community called Pause for Thought. It is now a global community, which we’re really proud of, particularly from those regions where there are clearly cultural differences.” At Serco too, the conversations and networks include
everyone, including male allies. “It affects all of us and we have to be as inclusive as we possibly can. I think the education piece is what we really need to drive home now,” commented Donna Taylor, bringing the role of colleagues and line managers into the conversation. Education and awareness are especially important for
making adjustments in sector- and job-specific roles that by necessity must be tightly controlled. These include offshore environments, defence and customer-facing roles, where autonomy and opportunities for women to, for example, adapt uniforms and protective equipment to accommodate their fluctuating body temperatures, are more limited than in office-based workplaces. The role of managers here is vital. “I think the key piece of advice is making sure that
line managers are not embarrassed, because if they’re not embarrassed, then the people working for them – if they need support or to talk about their menopause symptoms – are less likely to be embarrassed,” said Rachel Suff. Starting these conversations and actions now and
bringing everyone – not just women – into the conversation – will pay dividends in the future. Talking about and listening to people’s experiences of menopause in and out of work will go a long way to making it a normal part of the workplace and help support women’s careers.
“ Going through perimenopause and menopause is no time to either step down, step back or step out of the workplace because if employers can support you well throughout that time, women can arguably go on to have the best ten, 15, 20 years of their career post-menopause.” HELEN TOMLINSON, ADECCO GROUP
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