Government rejects menopause leave policy

by Herpreet Kaur Grewal

the committee criticises it for not actually committing to any new work in response to the report.

Nokes said: “This belated response to our report is a missed opportunity to protect vast numbers of talented and experienced women from leaving the workforce, and leaves me unconvinced that menopause is a government priority.

“For too long women have faced stigma, shame and dismissive attitudes when it comes to menopause. The evidence to our inquiry was crystal clear that urgent action was needed across healthcare and work settings to properly address women’s needs, yet government progress has been glacial and its response complacent. Its refusal to even consult on reforming equalities law doesn’t make sense and we urge it to look again.”

Research conducted by WEC early last year polled 2,161 women who were all experiencing at least one symptom of menopause, and found that 31% had missed work because of symptoms.

Companies’ response

Lauren Stirling, head of HR and people development at contract caterer Elior, said: “There is no doubt that menopause significantly impacts women. The British Menopause Society reports that menopause symptoms affect more than 75% of women. Over 25% describe their symptoms as severe. Sadly, it is not uncommon for women to feel they have no option than to withdraw from the workforce. Looking at our own demographics at Elior, over 60% of our workforce are women, a large proportion of which are in the 45-55 age group.

“Irrespective of any government-level decisions, raising awareness around menopause is fundamental. It remains a relatively taboo subject and it’s only by raising awareness first that action

Small Steps Progress

November 2022: The NHS launched its first guidance on menopause for line managers and colleagues. The guidance means that menopausal women working in the NHS will be able to work from home if their symptoms require it. It includes advice on HR aspects such as how to record menopauserelated absence, as well as practical tips for line managers on the benefits of having regular health and wellbeing conversations with their teams, and it supports will follow.” Stirling said that regardless of the government’s guidelines, organisations can take “positive action” to raise awareness and provide menopause support schemes. “Organisations can undertake CPD accredited ‘Menopause in the workplace’ training, helping make them better informed and equipped, or work towards the Menopause Friendly Accreditation to prove their commitment to being a menopause-friendly employer.”

Stirling added that Elior UK’s familyfriendly policy includes a menopause awareness training programme, with the aim of “breaking the taboo and raising awareness” so that colleagues who may be experiencing menopause will feel supported at work. An important part of this support and awareness comes from having open conversations between managers and colleagues, line managers completing menopause training, and resources and supportive material being available to employees. “Our resources are made available for partners and family members to help them better understand and support their loved ones.” them to consider any reasonable adjustments they may want to implement to support colleagues who are experiencing menopause symptoms.

August 2022: A university launched two policies designed to offer support to staff experiencing menopause and those undergoing fertility treatment – and raising awareness of the issues with line managers and other staff members.

Queen’s University in Belfast’s Fertility Treatment Leave Policy “acknowledges the demands on individuals and their partners and is offering up to five days’ leave for fertility related treatment”. The second newly launched Menopause Policy provides “a range of training and awareness raising to support those experiencing menopausal symptoms”. The guidance is intended to provide “clarity and direction to help managers understand the menopause and related issues within the workplace, how they can affect staff, and how managers can best provide support”.

Elior also said that any menopause policy should be “completely inclusive of women, transgender, non-binary and intersex individuals”. Sterling said: “More than half of UK businesses are currently experiencing skills shortages. Losing women where it could be avoided is something we should be fighting hard to change.” She argued that any healthy workplace should offer “an inclusive culture where everyone is valued, regardless of age, culture, background or gender” and everyone should be “equal, included and supported as an individual”. Putting putting equality, diversity, inclusion and colleagues’ wellbeing centre stage “demonstrates a company’s dedication to making its organisation a great place to work”.

Leave is not the answer

Staff at digital health app Peppy agreed that the Women and Equalities Committee is correct to draw attention to the issue of menopause in the workplace but believe that women will be better supported by receiving information, advice, and treatment for the symptoms, rather than being offered leave.

Kathy Abernethy, chief nursing officer and director of Menopause Services at Peppy, said: “While we welcome this focus on menopause as a workplace issue, approval of sick leave just isn’t the answer here. While it’s true many individuals do take time off work due to menopausal symptoms, what colleagues really need is easy access to information and appropriate treatment to effectively manage those symptoms.

“Many workplaces can and do offer great support, which is very important, but access to treatment – whether that is HRT, lifestyle changes, nutritional support or therapy approaches – or often all of these – is essential, and workplaces who support their people to make informed decisions around treatment choices, may find that absence is far less common.”

There can be a tendency when discussing the impact of technologies to focus on one of two extremes: transformational hype (“everything you thought you knew is about to end”) or nerdlevel technical minutiae.

Fortunately, February’s annual Workplace Futures conference carved out a third way, covering a broad stream of tech narratives as they affect . The following soundbites have been highlighted to give a flavour of the day.

Building design

FM was meant to take a leading role in building information model (BIM) creation and maintenance. Has it? Agents4RM International MD Lionel Prodgers noted “a reluctance at the design and construction stage” to build technical data and physical assets such as plant and equipment into the BIM. “It’s beginning to happen, but it’s not universal.” Slow progress towards integration into BIM means we are still some distance from FM taking the controlling influence over BIMs as once envisaged. Will FM ever have everything FM-related collated into a single place? Prodgers doesn’t see it happening any time soon.

Nigel Warrick, head of digital workplace at CADline, spoke on how the pinpoint accuracy of modern built asset data from cameras and drones allows for specialised intelligence to emerge from disparate systems feeding into BIMs.

Mark Davenport, smart buildings director for Equans UK & Ireland, took on the topic of smart buildings, and of how FM needs to be front and centre in any discussion about their design – smart buildings being “a major disruption to the construction model”. Developers, he said, can be reluctant. “They didn’t understand BMS so they certainly don’t understand what a smart building is.” Developing smart buildings requires ‘fivestar’ clients who understand the qualitative improvements that smart buildings can bring.

Navigating the data ocean

Graham Perry of business intelligence software firm Datore spoke of the oceans of data that FM organisations will be asked to deal with in the future. Refining raw performance data will be key, as will organising it into a form that can be sent to analytics systems for machine learning to make actionable insights.

Should FM organisations be internalising this work? “We are going to see an outsourcing of data and analytics,” said Perry. ‘Data as a service’ and ‘analytics as a service’ will deliver intelligence into an organisation without that organisation having to buy them themselves.

The human dimension Vpod Solutions’ group director of workplace consultancy and transformation, Simone FentonJarvis, talked about how too many workers (a fifth or more) remain unengaged in their work. Hybrid means it’s possible for colleagues “to be more disconnected, despite being more connected than ever”.

“As a profession, of course we want to get people back to the office,” she continued, “but we need to give [workers] a reason.” People, culture, and belonging are the principal elements: The workplace offers a reason to get together with our tribe. We need to tie what it is to be human to what the office provides for us. That’s potentially quite a shift.

“What’s important is that the data collected to support workplace design is the data that supports the desires, intentions and behaviours of the people meant to populate it.”

Peter Ankerstjerne, chief strategy officer at Planon, said the focus of offices is collaboration, creating relationships and promoting company culture. “We are moving from activity-based to experience-based offices. And it’s we as FMs who need to stage that experience – because the office has become optional for most people now.”

Corporate culture came up in Q&A, with Ankerstjerne speaking of companies