From 2027, every UK company with more than 250 employees will have to set out the practical steps they are taking to support employees experiencing menopause, including providing training for managers and employees and improving access to flexible working or workplace adjustments.
But not everyone agrees this is a positive step forward, and it may have unintended consequences for women’s recruitment and career progression. A new study has found that there is no link between women experiencing the menopause and their engagement at work, productivity, impairment and absence. In an interview with The Times, Professor Susan Davis said: “The policies have been driven by emotion and insufficient fact.” Here, three experts share their verdict.
Menopause policies may deter employers from hiring midlife women
Sharon McDonald, who has worked in healthcare recruitment for 15 years
I’m going through perimenopause myself. I know what it’s like to wake up sweating or arrive at work after a terrible night’s sleep. But I’m still perfectly capable of doing my job, making difficult decisions and supporting other people. My concern is that, in trying to help women, we risk creating another prejudice against us.
I’ve spent my working life helping to recruit thousands of women, but I feel the growing emphasis on menopause policies will put women at a professional disadvantage, and may put some employers off from hiring women in their forties and fifties.
Women have fought assumptions about whether pregnancy and childcare commitments will affect their ability to do their job. Now, I worry we’re giving employers another age bracket to fret about. Nobody will say that out loud. But it could subconsciously influence who gets interviewed, promoted or trusted with a demanding role.
I’m not against practical help for someone whose symptoms are affecting them, but I favour responding to the individual, rather than assuming every menopausal woman needs a separate workplace framework. For me, we’ve gone too far in medicalising a natural stage of life and presenting it as a professional disadvantage.
A flexible employer should be able to accommodate health needs without making women feel their age and hormones are under scrutiny. I want my experience to count for more than my symptoms. Because menopause hasn’t erased my ambition or professional value.
Without formal menopause policies, we could lose a wealth of talent
Emma Louise Taylor, head of learning, development and EDI at Gi Group
I went through two medically induced menopause experiences as part of IVF treatment, and more recently I’ve begun experiencing the early onset of perimenopause. Those experiences gave me insight into something I don’t think I’d fully appreciated before: menopause isn’t a single moment in time, and it certainly isn’t the same experience for every woman.
What surprised me most was the impact on cognitive and emotional wellbeing, not the physical symptoms. I experienced brain fog, fatigue, disrupted sleep and moments of self-doubt that felt completely at odds with how I normally saw myself as a professional and leader.
As someone who is typically highly organised, driven and confident, it was frustrating to find myself occasionally searching for words, forgetting things I would normally remember or feeling mentally drained despite putting in the same effort. It would have been easy for others to interpret those changes as performance issues rather than recognising them as the impact of significant hormonal change. I was lucky enough to have a supportive manager, and my experience is one of the reasons I am pushing my current organisation to ensure employees receive equal treatment for health conditions, instead of being dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Women in their forties and fifties represent one of the fastest-growing and most experienced segments of the workforce. We also know that a significant number report considering reducing their hours, turning down promotions or leaving employment because of unmanaged menopause symptoms. An estimated 330,000 women aged 45 to 55 in the UK have left their jobs due to menopause symptoms, driving an estimated £1.5bn in direct annual economic losses through workforce exit.
When organisations introduce manager education, awareness programmes, practical adjustments and supportive policies, we see greater openness, earlier intervention and a stronger likelihood that women will remain engaged and continue progressing their careers.
Ultimately, menopause support is not about special treatment. It is about ensuring a natural life stage doesn’t become an unnecessary barrier to someone fulfilling their potential at work.
Menopause can be brutal – working in an organisation where you cannot talk honestly about it makes it harder
Rachel Cashman is an adviser and facilitator across healthcare, working with the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care
The author of the recent report on menopause workplace measures said: “The policies have been driven by emotion and insufficient fact.” I find this jarring. I want policies to be grounded in good evidence too, but I would challenge any suggestion that taking women’s experiences seriously puts us at odds with the facts. A woman should be able to ask for support without that becoming a verdict on her professional worth.
After years of perimenopause, I was plunged into surgical menopause. I still live with its effects, like brain fog, forgetfulness and tiredness; particularly for me, if I travel anywhere, it can now knock me off-kilter for three days at a time. The symptoms, such as mood swings, hormonal migraines and pain, can be brutal and good management cannot wish them away. But inflexible hours, unreasonable workloads and having no say over your working environment can make a difficult situation intolerable. In my case, running a business brings a level of flexibility but also its own pressures. Control over your diary doesn’t remove client commitments or the need to earn a living.
Support for menopause needs to extend beyond clinical prescribing into navigating a professional life. I would like to see managers (male and female) work with their employees to manage practical changes together. This means flexibility around working hours, manageable workloads and time for appointments.
In my work, I help leaders have the conversations they would often rather avoid. A menopause policy can give those conversations legitimacy and structure. It becomes box-ticking when nobody takes responsibility for putting it into practice.
But a menopause policy is only as useful as the conversation a woman can actually have with her manager. Can she explain what is happening and ask for support without someone deciding she is now less capable? Can they discuss performance honestly, agree what needs to change and follow through?
The greatest difference comes from women having some control: flexibility over working hours, breaks and temperature; adjustments to workload where needed; and a manager who listens without making assumptions about their capability or ambition.
Psychological safety means being able to say, “I’m struggling and we need to discuss how I can do my job well,” without fearing that honesty will count against you.