Menopause is now far more visible in workplace wellbeing conversations than it was even a few years ago. As a workplace wellbeing provider, we’re increasingly being asked to support organisations with menopause awareness training, menopause cafés and the development of menopause policies.
However, while more organisations now have menopause policies in place, policy alone does not create a supportive workplace culture.
In this blog, we’ll explore why menopause support needs to go beyond written policies, examine the latest UK evidence on the impact of menopause at work, and share practical steps employers can take to create environments where employees feel understood and supported at work.
Why workplace support matters
Menopause affects everybody differently. For some people, symptoms are mild and have little or no effect on working life. For others, symptoms can affect sleep, concentration, memory, confidence, mood and physical comfort and become a real issue both at work and in personal lives.
There are currently 4-5 million women aged 45-60 currently working in the UK. Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, based on a survey of more than 2,000 employed women aged 40 to 60 in the UK, found that 73% had experienced symptoms related to the menopause transition. Among those who had experienced symptoms, 67% said they had a mostly negative effect at work, while 53% could recall a time when they had been unable to go into work because of them. Only one third of these women feel supported by managers in the workplace.
A 2025 literature review by the Department for Work and Pensions, found that there is considerable evidence that menopause can affect confidence and wellbeing at work and, to a lesser extent, people’s ability to perform their jobs effectively. However, the review also cautioned that workplace experiences are shaped by social and cultural factors, which include negative stereotypes about menopause and ageing. The difficulty is not always the symptoms alone. Sometimes it is a rigid working environment, a lack of understanding or the fear of being judged that makes the experience harder.
A policy is a starting point, not the end result
A clear menopause policy can provide consistency, clarify available support and signal that the organisation takes the subject seriously. But a policy cannot have a supportive conversation. It doesn’t notice when an employee is struggling or explore whether work is making symptoms worse or agree an adjustment.
Those things depend on people.
In practice, a policy will have limited impact if:
- Managers do not know it exists
- Employees do not know where to find it
- Managers lack the confidence to discuss menopause sensitively
- The process for requesting support is complicated
- Requests are met with a standard response rather than individual considerations
- Adjustments are agreed but never reviewed
- Employees fear that disclosure could affect how their competence or future prospects are viewed.
A policy may look reassuring in an employee handbook. However, real change is reflected in everyday behaviour and decisions.
Give managers practical confidence
Managers do not need to become menopause experts or provide medical advice. They do need to know how to listen, respond respectfully, maintain confidentiality and focus on the aspects of work that can reasonably be changed.
Acas recommends early conversations and regular 1-1 follow-up with employees to understand their needs and identify appropriate adjustments. Its guidance also highlights the value of training managers to discuss menopause sensitively, understand how it may affect workers and know what support is available within the organisation.
A helpful conversation might begin with simple questions such as:
- Are there any aspects of work that are making things more difficult?
- What would help you at the moment?
- Are there any temporary adjustments we could try?
- When would it be useful to review how these changes are working?
The purpose is not to ask for a detailed medical history but to understand the workplace impact and consider practical support.
Employees should remain in control of what they choose to disclose. Managers should also avoid assuming that everybody will experience menopause in the same way or want the same support.
Make adjustments personal and practical
Menopause support should not be reduced to providing a desk fan. Temperature control may help some people, but others may need support with fatigue, concentration, anxiety, joint pain, sleep disruption or changing symptoms.
The right adjustment will depend on the individual, the role and the working environment.
Possible adjustments may include:
- Greater flexibility around start and finish times
- Home or hybrid working where the role allows
- Access to drinking water, toilets and private rest areas
- Additional or more flexible breaks
- Reviewing uniforms or dress requirements
- Improving temperature control and ventilation
- Temporarily adjusting duties, workloads or meeting patterns
- Considering the effects of fatigue in safety-critical work
- Access to occupational health or specialist health advice
UK government guidance published in March 2026 identifies flexible hours, private rest areas, ergonomic furniture, specialist health advice, temperature control and ventilation among the workplace adjustments employers can consider. It also stresses that adjustments should reflect the employee’s specific needs rather than rely on a single standard approach.
Importantly, adjustments should not be treated as a one-off decision. Symptoms can fluctuate and support that works now may need to change later. Agreeing a review date creates an opportunity to check whether the adjustment is helping without requiring the employee to begin the whole conversation again. A menopause action plan can be an invaluable tool throughout these conversations.
Consider the working environment, not just the individual
A good menopause approach looks beyond the employee and asks whether the workplace itself is creating unnecessary barriers.
Acas advises employers to consider how particular roles and responsibilities may make symptoms harder to manage, including long shifts, limited toilet breaks, uncomfortable uniforms and a lack of flexibility. Its guidance also states that menopause should be considered within workplace risk assessment, with the aim of ensuring that the workplace or ways of working do not make symptoms worse.
This may be particularly relevant in physically demanding, frontline or safety-critical roles, where generic advice designed for office environments may not be realistic.
Occupational health can help managers and employees explore the demands of the role, the functional impact of symptoms and adjustments that are reasonable and practicable. The focus should be on enabling someone to remain well and effective at work, not questioning their capability.
Remember the legal context
Menopause is not a separate protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission explains that employees may be protected from discrimination, harassment and victimisation where their treatment relates to protected characteristics including disability, age and sex.
Where menopause symptoms have a substantial and long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities, they may meet the legal definition of disability. In those circumstances, an employer may have a duty to make reasonable adjustments.
Legal compliance matters, but organisations should not wait until an employee reaches a particular legal threshold before offering understanding and practical support. Good management begins much earlier.
Measure whether support is genuinely working
If an organisation wants to move beyond policy, it needs to understand employees’ actual experiences.
Useful questions include:
- Do employees know what menopause support is available?
- Do managers feel confident having conversations?
- How quickly are adjustment requests considered?
- Are adjustments reviewed?
- Do employees feel safe raising concerns?
- Are absence and performance processes applied fairly and sensitively?
- Does the support work for employees in different roles, locations and working patterns?
Anonymous feedback, manager confidence surveys and reviews of how requests are handled can all provide useful insight. The aim is not to collect personal medical information. It is to identify whether a gap exists between the organisation’s stated commitment and employees’ experience.
Moving from intention to action
As mentioned earlier, real menopause support is not created by a policy alone. It is created when:
- Managers do not know it exists
- Employees do not know where to find it
- Managers lack the confidence to discuss menopause sensitively
- The process for requesting support is complicated
- Requests are met with a standard response rather than individual considerations
- Adjustments are agreed but never reviewed
- Employees fear that disclosure could affect how their competence or future prospects are viewed.
The real test
As we’ve said, a policy is a start point – but the real test is what actually happens in the workplace. For example, when an employee tells a manager that poor sleep is affecting concentration or hot flushes are making a uniform uncomfortable, or anxiety and reduced confidence are making work feel harder than it did before. Would employees feel confident in even addressing these issues. And if so, does the manager know how to respond? Can practical changes be agreed quickly? Will the employee be met with understanding, rather than assumptions about capability? You’ll know real change is happening when the answer to these scenarios is ‘yes’.
Final thoughts
Often, the changes that make the greatest difference are not complicated or costly. They begin with awareness, compassionate conversations and a willingness to consider what could be done differently.
The true measure of a menopause-friendly workplace isn’t whether a policy exists, but whether employees feel confident asking for support and receive the understanding and practical help they need when they do.