Is menopause awareness training for managers enough?
Is menopause awareness training for managers enough?
Many women, experienced professionals who have reached important stages in their careers, suddenly feel unsupported when it comes to going through a menopause or perimenopause stage (which can occur at any point from the late 30s but is most likely in the early 50s).
The typical symptoms — issues such as ‘brain fog’ and anxiety, along with poor sleep and memory — can have a significant impact on everyday work, and in particular, adding to the challenges involved around dealing with pressure and stress.
Training tactics
A survey has suggested that around 37% of managers receive training on menopause symptoms. 25% of managers admitted they wouldn’t know how to respond if they were approached to deal with issues. 16% even said they believed that employees who talked about their meno-pause experience were just making an ‘excuse for poor performance’.
In response to these and other findings, wellbeing commentators in HR have called for a closing of the ‘knowledge gap’, and for managers to be upskilled to make sure they understand the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of menopause. And in turn, they will then be able to introduce strategies that make for a supportive and inclusive workplace culture.
Support in practice
EAPA UK chair, Karl Bennett said: “The rejection of providing protected status for menopause under the Equality Act means there continues to be very different levels of attention and un-derstanding among employers.
“But for all managers, having conversations about the symptoms involved and finding the right response continues to be problematic. Their priority is performance and delivery at work, and having to deal with personal, sensitive stories can just feel like a distraction. As a result, em-ployees don’t feel like they’re being listened to.
“Again this is where access to an independent service like an EAP comes in; where there’s a chance to speak freely about the interplay between home and work life, the physical and psy-chological symptoms. In this way women can reach a clear position on where they are, what they need in practical terms to support them, and can go back to managers with a proposal ra-ther than feeling they are simply becoming passive and unable to cope.”