Employers need to "wise up" about the impacts of menopause on their female staff to avoid losing valued employees.

That's the warning issued by The Menopause Hub CEO Loretta Dignam, who was speaking to Newstalk Breakfast about the impact of menopause on women in senior roles in the workplace.

Ms Dignam had recently suggested that if menopause was a male issue, the retirement age would have been set at 50 years of age decades ago.

The average age a woman experiences perimenopause – the lead-up to menopause – is 45 years old, which will then develop into menopause usually at 51 years old.

However, the symptoms of perimenopause for some women can begin as early as the late 30s or early 40s.

Ms Dignam said this is usually a time when women are progressing into more senior roles in their careers.

"There are over 40 symptoms of menopause and there are 80% of women who suffer with symptoms," she said.

"That can affect them personally and professionally."

Symptoms

Ms Dignam said women typically feel their symptoms in a number of different ways.

"The number one way being cognitive," she said.

"So much so, that 10% of women in Ireland told us in our survey that they gave up their jobs, and they felt compelled to do so."

Workshops

As part of her work in The Menopause Hub, Ms Dignam said she provides e-learning, workshops, and training to organisations around menopause.

"Increasingly, there are males involved in that training as line managers, because they know that they can't afford to have staff walking out the door," she said.

"This is often the age that women want to go into more senior roles, take on more senior positions, and we're all looking at diversity and inclusion.

"They realise that they need to be able to talk about this and be comfortable talking about it.

"Employers and HR need to kind of wise up around this issue, and lots of organisations we've worked with have enrolled our policy development."

Taboo

Conversations around menopause have progressed among women, according to Ms Dignam.

"Thankfully we're all talking about it and the stigma and the taboo are reducing," she said.

"Employers are totally unaware as well of the impact of menopause.

"Therefore, what's required is an increase in education and awareness training for managers, for line managers, for HR, for supervisors and for colleagues in work so that people can understand and start to talk more openly about it.

"It's kind of like where mental health was about 10 or 15 years ago."