New BSI Standard – The British Standards Institution (BSI) has released a new workplace standard relating to Menstruation & Menopause.

The BSI standard (BS 30416) aims to support the health and well-being of all employees who menstruate or experience peri/menopause. The standard suggests that there are many actions that employers can take to improve the accommodation of all its employees. The standard’s introduction follows research from The Fawcett Society which revealed 10 per cent of employees leave work due to menopause-related symptoms such as nausea, dizziness and insomnia. The BSI says the new rules will help organisations retain talented staff.

The stigma surrounding menopause and menstruation has stalled effective support in the workplace for individuals, leading to avoidable stress for employees and unfairness within businesses.

Menstruation and peri/menopause are natural bodily processes experienced by approximately 50% of the population, yet they have traditionally been stigmatized, overlooked and misunderstood – both within workplaces and wider society. Only a minority of UK workplaces have specific policies in place for helping individuals experiencing menstruation and menopause. This is putting job satisfaction, staff retention, and increased productivity at risk for businesses unless they can build an inclusive and equitable environment.

“I am truly delighted that the BSI have produced the Menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace standard, recognising the challenges, symptoms and experiences of both menopause & menstrual health and how these can affect women in the workplace,” says Helen Tomlinson, Menopause Employment Champion for the UK Government.

“It’s a free resource for any organisation, large or small across all sectors, to be able to utilise. This will go a long way to ensure that everyone can receive the support they need at this critical time.”

In 2023, the CIPD/Simply Health Health and Wellbeing at Work survey report found that 46% have provision for menopause transition (such as policies, guidance, awareness-raising or people manager training) in place to a large or moderate extent. This is a step in the right direction, but the majority of employers still need to develop and implement an effective framework. Their approach also needs to be proactive and engage the whole workforce – a policy alone will achieve nothing, or very little, if it remains on the shelf.

Accelerating equity

This standard highlights that people who face disruptions to their work because of menstrual health may have to sacrifice career progression, and have historically faced feeling misunderstood.

It lists actions such as:

👍Suitable training for Line Managers and HR Leaders;

👍Using non-stigmatising language such as “menstrual products” instead of “feminine hygiene products”;

👍Offer discrete quite spaces & changing rooms;

👍Providing suitable facilities in which employees can access menstrual products;

👍Creating a supportive culture;

👍Appointing workplace menstruation and menopause advocates.

It is thought that this new standard will assist employers with retaining talent staff as previous research had shown that 10% of employees had left work due to menopause-related symptoms such as nausea, dizziness and insomnia. This new standard should hopefully give employers some ideas to consider, especially employers with mobile or flexible workers.

Menstruation – CIPD Research Key findings

Menstruation and support at work | CIPD

Almost 4 in 5 have experienced menstruation symptoms

79% of respondents say they have experienced menstruation symptoms.
The most common symptoms include abdominal cramps (60%), feeling irritable (52%), fatigue (49%) bloating (49%) and low mood (47%) but there are a wide range of symptoms experienced.
15% say they have a menstrual condition such as endometriosis, PCOS, PMDD, fibroids.

More than two-thirds of women experience a negative impact at work due to menstruation symptoms

Around 7 in 10 employees (69%) who have experienced symptoms from menstruation report that they have had a negative impact at work.
This rises to 81% reporting a negative impact where people have a diagnosed menstrual condition and 82% in the case of a self-diagnosed menstrual condition.
More than half (53%) had been unable to go into work at some point because of their symptoms and for a small minority (4%) this was the case every month.

Just 1 in 5 (20%) always tell their manager that their absence is related to their menstrual cycle

Around half of employees (49%) said they never tell their manager their absence is related to their menstrual cycle.
When asked why they felt unable to tell their manager the real reason they were unable to go into work, employees said it was because that they felt the problem would be trivialised, followed closely by feeling embarrassed and that they prefer to keep the matter private.

Recommendations

Culture

Creating a culture where menstruation and menopause can be talked about openly is one of the best thing employers can do. It’s about what’s right for the communities – all communities – in your organisation.

When we’re looking at best practice from a cultural perspective – are your senior leaders on board? When we see those at the top of the organisation talking about menopause it gives everyone permission to be open and share their stories. What are you doing in your organisation to change the lived experience, to make menopause as normal to talk about as any conversation?

Based on CIPD research the following principles that organisations can use to plan better support for menstrual health in the workplace:

Build an open and inclusive culture to normalise menstruation in the workplace through supportive discussions and open dialogue.
Create awareness and tackle stigma, for example through having a dedicated section for information and resources on the company intranet.
Develop a support framework. This can include policy provision, support pathways, guidance and training.
Train and support people managers. Training should include information about the diversity of menstruation experiences and the importance of sensitivity and discretion.

Organisations looking to support employees with menstrual health conditions should consider:

- Embedding good people management practices.
- Creating the climate for successful sharing.
- Ensuring employees have easy access to information and support.
- Managing absence and performance management with compassion and flexibility.
- Providing access to, and training in, work adjustments and self-management support.

Menopause

Menopause in the workplace: Employee experiences in 2023 (cipd.org)

How can you support your people?

Develop a framework to support people

A positive environment where the menopause is treated seriously;
The need for effective communication skills;
Consideration of the menopause at a policy level;
Education and training for people managers, including how to make reasonable adjustments.

Promote good people management

It’s important for employers to support staff through every stage of the menopause. Having early and regular follow-up conversations with staff to understand their needs can help make sure support and procedures are in place so they can continue to do their job effectively.

Employers should consider how the person’s job role and responsibilities could make their menopause symptoms harder to deal with, for example if:

They work long shifts;
They cannot take regular toilet breaks;
Their job requires a uniform which may cause discomfort;
Their job does not have much flexibility.

There are several steps employers can take to make sure they have early conversations with staff and find solutions before problems arise.

Offer Flexible Working

Being able to negotiate flexible working hours or practices could make a really big difference in helping someone experiencing menopausal symptoms to continue to work to their full potential

Other ways that working life can be made more flexible for those in transition include:

Reducing workload;
Ensuring they are not working excessively long hours;
Rearranging formal meetings or presentations if necessary;
Allowing them to switch to different tasks on bad days;
Allowing them to work flexible hours and/or at home, especially on bad days or if sleep is poor;
Allowing time off in the day to attend medical appointments (Brewis et al 2017).

Ensure support for those working remotely

It is important therefore to ensure that employees experiencing menopause symptoms are getting the support they need, regardless of their work pattern and location.

Manage performance positively

It should be recognised that people can experience a wide range of uncomfortable symptoms for many years as part of the menopause transition. This doesn’t mean that the majority can still perform to a high standard if they are given the right support at work.

Sickness absence procedures and reporting

Employers should develop an absence management framework and culture that encourages genuine reporting of the reasons for sickness absence, whereby people feel able to disclose menopausal symptoms. CIPD research (2023) found that only 18% of those unable to go into work because of menopause symptoms felt able to tell their manager the real reason for their absence

Inclusive Language and the Menopause

We live in a multicultural, non-binary world. Which is why menopause support at work needs to have a strong diversity and inclusion focus.

Content

This will be different for each organisation. Some focus entirely on menopause, some consider all life stages. But it’s key to appreciate that not all individuals who experience menopause will identify as a woman. LGBTQ+ is included in many, guidance for same sex partnerships, and andropause. Always make sure sure the content is inclusive.

Language

Start from the position of ‘everyone can be affected by menopause’. We often hear the phrase ‘menopause affects half the population’. But it affects us all. Some first hand, some through relationships, maybe a partner, family member, friend or colleague. This is an inclusive subject everyone needs to know about.

Most employers have moved away from gender-specific language, not just for menopause but for all policies. Writing in the first or second person is not only warmer but naturally more inclusive. Also, remember English might not be everyone’s first language, so do use ‘plain English’ and you might want to consider translating some of your documents too.

Trans men and non-binary people may experience menopause if they keep their ovaries and do not alter their hormone profile.

Audit existing Policies & Practices

Certain workplace factors could worsen someone’s perimenopausal or menopausal symptoms, and so the first step is to ensure that the organisation’s existing policies and working practices don’t unintentionally create barriers for employees during this stage of their life. These can include both the ‘physical’ aspects of someone’s working environment as well as the less tangible impact that an organisation’s customs and policies can have on someone’s experience of work.

For example, could the constrictions of a uniform or dress code exacerbate menopausal symptoms? How well ventilated is the workplace? Do people managers understand that the menopause should be viewed as an occupational health issue, and do they take this fact into account during the performance management process where appropriate? Does the organisation’s flexible working policy explicitly recognise that the menopause is an occupational health issue that could require adjustments for someone by highlighting the range of working options that could be offered to support staff in these circumstances?

Develop a Plan & relevant Wellbeing Policies

Not every organisation will decide that having a standalone menopause policy is appropriate for its culture or people management framework. Some may prefer to incorporate provision related to the menopause across its existing policies, such as flexible working and equality and diversity, and develop dedicated line manager guidance and training to bring this policy provision to life. However, developing a standalone organisational policy or plan on the menopause can serve a number of purposes, for example:

It will prompt HR to systematically audit the organisation’s existing policy provision related to the menopause and think strategically and practically about how to develop the most effective framework;
It provides the opportunity for HR to collaborate with its occupational health (OH) service, if it has one, and any employee assistance programme (EAP) partners, to develop a framework that is fully integrated into both people management and OH policies, practices and provision;
A standalone policy provides clarity for managers and employees, for example by setting out key responsibilities and signposting to sources of support;
Developing a policy provides an opportunity to engage with employees on the issue and shows the workforce the organisation regards the menopause as a serious work-related health issue;
It can provide the framework for evaluating the impact of the organisation’s provision in this area.

Treat menopause in same way as any long-term health condition

Organisations should treat an employee with menopause symptoms in the same way they would manage and support someone with any long-term health condition. Information about the menopause and the support available for employees experiencing it should be woven through all of the organisation’s health and sickness-absence-related policies and procedures. One experience of the menopause transition can be entirely different from another, so an organisation needs to develop a framework that encourages managers to have a tailored approach, where the focus is on providing individualised support.

Carry out appropriate risk assessments

Employers have a legal duty to control the risks to people’s health and safety at work, and this should involve carrying out a risk assessment or audit to help prevent and manage these risks to individuals.

By law, employers are responsible for the health and safety of all staff, including those working from home.

Employers must conduct a risk assessment of their staff’s work and workplace, including any work from home. This includes:

Generally assessing health and safety risks at work;
Minimising, reducing and where possible removing health and safety risks for staff

For staff affected by the menopause this includes:

Ensuring menopause symptoms are not made worse by the workplace or its work practices;
Making changes to help staff manage their symptoms when doing their job.

For the menopause, a risk assessment could include:

The temperature and ventilation of the workplace;
The material and the fit of the organisation’s uniform, if there is one, and whether it might make staff going through the menopause feel too hot or cause discomfort;
Whether there’s somewhere suitable for staff to rest if needed, for example a quiet room;
Whether toilet facilities are easily accessible;
Whether cold drinking water is available;
Whether managers and supervisors have been trained on health and safety issues relating to the menopause.

Workplace Adjustments

Although it’s not automatic for the symptoms associated with the menopause to be regarded as a disability, they can be, and it’s good practice to consider making adjustments for any individual experiencing difficulties at work because of a long-term health condition such as the menopause. Adjustments should be considered in relation to each individual and their specific role.

The CIPD 2023 survey found that planned flexible working (48%), the ability to control local temperature (46%) and last minute or unplanned late starts after sleep disturbances (36%) were mentioned the most as being helpful when managing menopause symptoms at work. More breaks when needed (34%), specialist support through occupational health (34%) and adjustments to work responsibilities/workload (31%) were also seen to be helpful.

Implement & Promote an employee assistance programme (EAP)

An EAP can support your people by;

24/7 counselling and advice services – If someone is struggling to cope with symptoms or feeling overwhelmed, a qualified professional is waiting at the end of the phone to offer immediate practical information and emotional support.

Having Menopause & Wellbeing champions

Having a menopause or wellbeing champion at work could help people affected by the menopause. The champion could be a point of contact if staff need advice, or someone to initially talk to if they are not comfortable talking to their managers.

With support from the champion, employers, HR and managers could:

Run workshops in the organisation to raise awareness among staff;
Let all staff know that the employer will try to support those having difficulties because of symptoms, for example through posters or newsletters;
Check that health and safety risk assessments cover the different stages of the menopause;
Set up a support network for staff affected by the menopause
Signpost staff where they can find more information.

It’s also important that employers raise awareness among staff that they will handle menopause in the workplace sensitively, and with dignity and respect.