There is a range of ways you can be informed and supportive of employees and workmates who are experiencing menopause. You can start small; even just a simple action like starting a conversation about menopause or sharing some information can make a difference.
To make a start, choose any of the actions from this menu, in any order, depending on what will work best for your workplace.
Learn about menopause
Menopause is a normal and powerful stage of life. Everyone’s menopause experience is different, and menopause is seen differently by different cultures.
Assess your workplace's policies and practices
A good way to work towards becoming a menopause-supportive workplace is to check your existing policies and practices to see how they support employees going through menopause.
Use the checklist to see how you’re tracking and get ideas to make improvements.
Support women going through menopause
Not everyone going through menopause will want to talk about it or need support. For those who do, there are lots of ways workplaces may be able to help. You may already have policies and supports within your workplace that can apply to menopause. This could include making reasonable adjustments to improve an employee’s health, safety, and wellbeing and ensure they can perform at their best.
Here are some tips for managers and leaders and examples of ways workplaces may be able to support people going through menopause.
Raise awareness in the workplace
A great way to raise awareness about menopause in the workplace could be to put up a poster on your intranet or somewhere like a bathroom.
Normalise talking about menopause
Having an open and respectful conversation about menopause can help break down stigma and support people to understand the diverse experiences of women going through this natural life stage.
Get the conversation started with the conversation cards.
Design your own menopause guide
We’ve created an template for you to use as a starting point to design a guideline that’s right for your workplace. You can use the template and adapt it to add your own policies, practices, intranet links, and contact people.
Download the design your own guide template.
Get inspired by workplaces leading the way
A growing number of organisations have started taking action to raise awareness and support women going through menopause.
Air New Zealand, FMG, and Christchurch City Holdings Limited are leading the way as menopause-supportive workplaces.