The island’s first roundtable discussion on menopause in the work place has taken place.

It came after the issue was discussed in Tynwald with Chief Minister Alfred Cannan calling for ‘more open and frank discussions’ on the topic.

About 80% of women will experience symptoms in menopause, and for a quarter of women, the symptoms will be severe.

Symptoms are both physical and psychological, which may include brain fog, impaired memory, low energy, poor sleep, joint aches, hot flushes and mood swings.

Local nutritionist and menopause expert Joanne Posey said: ‘The aim of the initial meeting was to open the conversation and begin to create more of a collective approach among large employers in the island to support our workforce and community.’

Ms Posey added: ‘Symptoms flagged as being most problematic in the workplace include fatigue, brain fog and hot flushes.

‘While workplaces have started to introduce awareness training, only 18% of women in menopause feel supported when they experience symptoms.’

mocked

One woman who worked in the public sector, was mocked by her male peers, and after she found there was no route to access support for her menopause she left the role.

Another woman who works in insurance said that she is considering down-sizing so she will have a smaller mortgage to pay off, and can take a step away from her current senior position.

She said that a driving factor in this was a lack of support and awareness regarding her menopause.

The meetings on the issue will now be planned on a monthly basis with individual sectors regrouping quarterly.

Ms Posey said: ‘Menopause policies are becoming more common and can be a powerful signal to staff that the subject is being taken seriously.

She reported that attendees took away action points that they felt were relevant to their organisations’ position, with the most proactive companies looking to take further action in the form of an in-house audit.

She said: ‘This will support efforts to identify areas for improvement and ensure that issues experienced are communicated to the board for policy level change.

‘This needs to be taken seriously as an ongoing occupational health and business critical issue at board level.

‘Accepting that expert advice is needed has wide-reaching benefits for the whole workforce and is positive for the bottom line.’