Writer: Shirley Weir, founding father of Menopause Chicks | Skilled Reviewer: Taylor Thurston, Naturopathic Physician & Menopause Society Licensed Practitioner
Editors: Romina Garcia from Leon and Janielle Richards (Weblog Co-coordinators)
Revealed: March 8, 2025
In 2023, the Menopause Basis of Canada launched a groundbreaking report revealing the staggering $3.5 billion price of unmanaged menopause-related well being issues to the Canadian economic system.
This isn’t an summary determine; it represents actual lives and livelihoods. The report confirmed that one-in-five ladies have thought-about leaving their jobs on account of debilitating signs and high quality of life. This statistic is not only a wake-up name for workplaces—it’s a rallying cry.
However wait! Let’s digest these numbers: 20% of girls feeling so poorly, unsupported, and defeated that they’ve critically contemplated quitting their jobs?
That’s severe.
And it ought to beg one other query: what concerning the different 80%?
These ladies, although they is probably not contemplating quitting, could also be struggling in silence to handle their well being whereas sustaining their skilled, household, and group obligations. The dialog about menopause within the office is not only about ticking the field on the newest developments in wellness; it’s about addressing a posh net of economics, productiveness, well being and fairness—inside a company’s cultural panorama.
A Systemic Subject, Not Only a Private Drawback
By the point fluctuating hormones, sleep disruption, or different well being issues might influence a lady’s life at work (for instance: 25% of respondents from the HER-BC Examine in 2024 reported lacking work, 17% have decreased hours of labor and practically 10% report having turned down a promotion or profession development), she has possible already exhausted her capacity to handle these challenges on her personal.
That’s as a result of, sadly, many ladies face obstacles when accessing well being care. Roughly 7 million Canadians (~1 million in British Columbia) do not need a household physician.
And people who do?
Nicely, the InHerWords 2019 report highlights that over half of girls go away well being appointments feeling dismissed or disillusioned, notably when discussing points associated to menstruation or menopause.
For Indigenous ladies and girls of color, these statistics are even larger. Add to this the truth that many ladies lack entry to a major healthcare supplier or encounter healthcare professionals who lack experience in menopause care, and the image turns into clear: this can be a systemic problem, not a person one.
The headlines usually declare that girls are leaving the workforce due to “menopause.” However let’s be exact: menopause is a single day on the calendar marking the tip of ovulation. It’s not one’s reproductive standing that drives ladies out of the office.
The true culprits?
- A complicated, and infrequently contradicting, panorama of girls’s well being data.
- Lack of dialog and schooling concerning the perimenopause-to-postmenopause transition.
- Restricted consciousness about how hormone well being intersects with different well being experiences–like iron deficiency, burnout, insomnia, despair & thyroid problems.
- Office cultures that overlook midlife ladies’s well being in worker advantages.
- And in the end, the persistent failure to acknowledge (and prioritize) ladies’s well being at this stage of life. Interval.
Why Ought to Employers Care?
Office leaders have a unprecedented alternative to help staff whereas additionally strengthening their organizations, the economic system and turning down the dial on power well being situations. Listed below are some key causes to take motion:
- Well being is a productiveness problem. Staff experiencing sleep deprivation, cognitive adjustments, burnout, or heavy bleeding are much less productive and fewer happy at work. Addressing these points is just not solely humane but in addition good for morale, retention, and the underside line.
- Retention issues. When 1-in-5 ladies think about quitting, it’s not only a private disaster; it’s a expertise disaster. Supporting midlife staff will cut back turnover, defend institutional information, and help the 4-in-5 who could by no means have the need, or the financial means to go away their jobs, but they encounter the identical obstacles when navigating well being issues.
- Fairness and inclusion. Making a office that acknowledges and helps ladies (and their companions/households) at all ages and stage sends a robust message concerning the group’s dedication to well being fairness.
The place Do We Begin?
- Study office tradition. Are ageism and sexism current in refined or overt methods? What occurs when staff communicate overtly about menopause-related challenges? Is the tradition considered one of help or silence? Does this influence worker engagement? Development?
- Evaluate + replace advantages packages. When was the final time worker advantages have been reviewed by means of the lens of a forty five+ feminine worker? Does the plan embrace entry to menopause hormone remedy, pelvic well being physiotherapy, and psychological well being sources? Is there a transparent course of for workers to suggest or request particular protection?
- Enhance healthcare entry. How straightforward is it for workers to entry the healthcare they want? Take into account partnering with native menopause specialists or telehealth suppliers to supply specialised menopause care.
- Deal with burnout & insomnia. Burnout is just not good for enterprise. Evaluate organizational insurance policies on workloads and psychological well being help. Burnout (acknowledged by the WHO in 2019 as an occupational phenomenon) and poor sleep well being is simply too usually mislabeled as “simply menopause” when it’s really a broader problem. Sleep problems price Canadian employers roughly $5,000 per worker per yr in misplaced productiveness. Half 1,000,000 Canadians miss work on account of psychological sickness each week, which impacts the economic system by roughly $51 billion yearly.
- Present schooling and help. Internet hosting a office academic session on menopause is a good begin. Worker teams are looking for evidence-based well being schooling and well being navigation help. For instance: The place do I’m going for X? How do I do know Y is roofed? Many additionally wish to increase menopause schooling with periods particularly associated to matters similar to sleep, coronary heart, mind, bone, psychological and sexual well being.
- Empower conversations. Encourage leaders and managers to normalize discussions about menopause within the office. Coaching packages might help them perceive the right way to strategy these matters with empathy and respect.
A Paradigm Shift
Earlier than founding Menopause ChicksI usually heard “menopause” and “hormones” spoken in hushed, detrimental tones. Phrases like “She’s so hormonal” or “Menopause sucks” strengthened outdated stereotypes: scorching, drained, moody, depressing, and extra. These narratives are dangerous and dismissive. We’re the primary era to show 50 with 5 extra many years of lively contribution to plan for.
It’s time to reframe the dialog. What if, as a substitute of viewing menopause as an finish, we noticed it as a starting? What if menopause was related to being sensible, sensible, assured, and delightful? This isn’t only a well being problem; it’s a cultural shift. I’m inspired by the societal elevation of girls of their sixth, seventh, and eighth many years. We’re seeing ladies in postmenopause revered by way of a spike in age-at-retirement, the leisure business, and new conversations like Wiser Than Mea podcast hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
By prioritizing ladies’s midlife well being, we’re not simply enhancing particular person lives—we’re strengthening households, workplaces and communities.
It’s 2025, and we’re sitting on a robust window-of-opportunity to scale back future charges of coronary heart illness, dementia, osteoporosis, kind 2 diabetes, and genitourinary syndrome of menopause (atrophy, incontinence, and pelvic organ prolapse)—whereas enhancing general high quality of life and selling longevity.
The Backside Line
Workplaces that select to make use of menopause schooling methods will achieve a aggressive benefit, notably for his or her employment manufacturers. Extra importantly, they may show a real dedication to their staff’ well-being. As a result of each lady deserves to really feel wonderful—at work and past.
