A policy around menopause in Irish workplaces could help retain talent.
That's according to Loretta Dignam, CEO of The Menopause Hub.
She was speaking after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced menopause leave for City Hall staff there.
The policy will also introduce measures to "shift perceptions surrounding menopause in the workplace."
Mr Khan says this new approach also aims to challenge the taboo surrounding menopause, "which can prevent staff from accessing the support they need or leave them feeling embarrassed or anxious in the workplace."
Staff experiencing menopause are entitled to request suitable support and workplace adjustments.
This could include flexible adjustments to the work day to accommodate breaks, time off to attend medical appointments, or changes to work tasks.
Ms Dignam told The Hard Shoulder Irish organisations may not be far behind.
"I'm doing work with organisations at the moment - we had a manager's workshop with UCD today - and we were talking about exactly this thing: how we support women going through menopause.
"12% of menopausal women in Ireland have said that they've left their job because of the menopausal symptoms, and 43% considered giving up work.
"This is research we did last year.
"And so as a result, we're working very hard to keep women in the workplace - and then along comes menopause and it risks us losing fantastic talent from the workplace".
'Menopause friendly'
Symptoms women say affect them most in the workplace include low energy, hot flushes, anxiety, focus of concentration and insomnia.
Ms Dignam says employers need to be empathetic.
"They can be very challenging for people, and therefore women need to be able to seek support - should they wish - they need to have an empathetic employer who can actually do something to help them stay in the workplace".
She says some changes could be more flexible working hours, or even something as simple as a way to control the temperature.
"I had 20 to 30 hot flushes a day, I welcomed a desk fan that was given to me - or sitting beside a window.
"So some of them, they're fairly simple adjustments that could be made".
And she believes workplaces simply identifying as 'menopause friendly' would help.
"If the organisation communicates to its staff that it's menopause friendly, the idea of having a fan on your desk shouldn't be an issue.
"We did some research with IBEC, and over 70% said that they had things in place where they could offer these reasonable adjustments.
"So there are a lot of things in place already - however, they're not looked at or signposted through the lens of menopause.
"So women may not think that they're allowed to avail of those different things, and it's really about the organisation more publicly announcing and communicating that these are relevant for menopause".
