Supporting women at work through the life stages

There are some 33 million people in employment in the UK, of which more than 15 million are women. This means that, while representation of women within the workplace may not yet quite match the 50/50 split of wider society - and so there is still a job to be done around workplace equality - progress is being made.

What's more, the female employment rate is now nearly 72%, largely driven by changes in the state pension age for women, with more women working for longer and into older age.

All of which makes the business case for employers to be doing more to support women to maintain optimum health throughout their working lives all the more compelling.

Executive health coach Lauren Chiren outlines the case for employers to be more understanding and engaged around how women’s hormones change during their working lives, and the effect this may have on their mental and physical health, productivity and performance.

Lauren co-presented a webinar for WPA at the end of 2020, where she emphasised the need for employers to become more 'menopause savvy', particularly given the demographic trends highlighted above.

Lauren illustrates the consequences of poor support for women's health through her own experience, showing how she ended up leaving the workforce in her early forties - from a senior-level role in a financial services' firm that she had loved and thought she was good at - simply because of a lack of understanding about what she was going through.

"I was struggling to recall and retain information, and I actually thought I might have early-onset dementia," she explains. "I left my job, thinking I was going to have to be looked after or cared for by someone else. So, when my doctor told me it was 'just' early menopause I was really shocked. I was surprised and I was quite embarrassed. I didn't realise I had just gone through an entirely natural, normal woman's stage of life.

"I thought menopause was for older women. I thought it was all about periods stopping and hot flushes, maybe some mood swings. I didn't realise that forgetfulness, struggling to recall and retain information, was all tied up in it as well.

"It set me off on a journey to think about what, actually, do we know about our bodies? How do we learn about what is going on on a month-to-month basis, when we are having our monthly cycles, when we are falling pregnant? And then, obviously, when we hit menopause," Lauren explains.

"We’re not prepared for the things that might go wrong. We're not told that it's not normal to be in pain every single month. We aren't advised to go and seek medical help. We're kind of just told to get up and get on with it. Sadly, that is what happens for so many women," she adds.

For employers, therefore, it is important to be taking a whole-life approach to supporting women's health, or in other words supporting women's changing health needs as they age. This can mean support for, perhaps, period pain or conditions such as endometriosis in earlier years, through to pregnancy, childbirth and post-pregnancy health issues, through to older-age issues such as menopause or osteoporosis.

The fact that the pandemic has exacerbated so many healthcare pressures, for example, as the charity Macmillan has recently highlighted, around access to breast cancer screening only emphasises the need for, and value of, employers stepping into the breach.

"They [women] struggle with conditions such as fibroids or polycystic ovary syndrome or endometriosis. And, often, these conditions can go undiagnosed for ten years or more. And for those ten years that person is going through pain, discomfort, and it can have an absolutely devastating effect on someone's life," Lauren highlights.

"Trying to work your way through education, get your qualifications, and enter the workforce just becomes that much harder. That is why it is important that we get access to really good-quality medical help and support; that we can access good networks of women who have gone through similar things, who can share their wisdom and their experiences.

"Knowing that you are not alone can have a massive impact on your mental health. It can help you journey through your experience and find the right help and support," she adds.

Employers, however, need to be aware that a one-size-fits-all approach may not be enough here. Just having a policy or approach that focuses on, say, pregnancy is not going to cut it. No woman's health 'journey' will be the same and health needs and priorities will vastly differ as women age.

"None of us has a 'textbook' experience when it comes to menstruation. Or any other aspect of a woman's lifecycle for that matter," Lauren points out. "Our journey through menstruation, through fertility, perhaps through pregnancy, and definitely through menopause, is absolutely unique to us.

"It is really important that, when you are speaking to somebody, to recognise that. To remember that we should never put our concepts or thoughts around what menstruation or pregnancy or fertility issues or perhaps even menopause are on to someone else. It is important always to speak to someone with an open mind."

Within this, it is important for employers to be recognising that, when we talk about issues such as menopause, it is potentially about supporting women who are of prime working age, often vastly experienced and committed to their organisations and able, if properly supported, to continue to make a valuable contribution for many years to come.

"Women will have menstruation, will have monthly cycles, whatever 'monthly' means to them, for around about 37 years. When they hit menopause they are potentially going to live for another 37 years; they are only going to be halfway through their adult life," Lauren argues.

"We've got so much to give back; we have so many skills, so much knowledge and experience when we get to menopause. It is really a time when we should be thinking about stepping into our prime; to be at the absolute peak of our career and looking forward to the next part of our life.

"Sadly, we know that over 86% of women neither know what menopause is nor how it is going to impact them. It is so important that we turn this statistic on its head. Women are working longer and later into life. We're holding down positions in society, whether they're voluntary or paid, for so much longer now.

"We're still juggling that with family responsibilities and other caring responsibilities, as well. And often we're doing that without community support around us as well. That can have a significant impact on our stress levels and our cortisol. That, in turn, can exacerbate any conditions that we are experiencing," Lauren adds.

In summary, it is imperative employers understand and engage with the health changes that women go through during their working lives and create and deliver flexible support that works for all generations.

It is about employers recognising and understanding how the bodies of female employees will change as they age, the role and impact of hormones on the body, the roles that oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone can play and so on.

"[It is] so that we can make the right lifestyle choices; we can access the right medical support, knowing that on a month-to-month basis these hormones are impacting on our brain health, our heart health, our bone health. They [hormones] have a role to play in our liver and our kidney health; how our skin, nails and hair feel," Lauren explains.

"It is important to think about the fact that our hormones also impact how we rest, how we get sleep, the quality of our sleep. As soon as we understand the monthly cycle when we're going through menstruation, and if we're experiencing any challenges with fertility or miscarriage, we can learn what's going on with our bodies, work with our medical providers and other practitioners to help us achieve optimal health.

"Help us find the place and work in balance and harmony with our bodies, so we can enjoy life and completely thrive. We deserve it," Lauren adds, in conclusion.

Nic Paton is one of the country's foremost journalists on workplace health, safety and wellbeing, and is editor of Occupational Health & Wellbeing magazine. He also regularly writes on the health and employee benefits and health insurance markets.