Menopause at work: what to say and what to keep to yourself

The meeting lasts twenty minutes and you spend fifteen of them working out whether anyone can see that you are sweating.

Then a question comes your way and you cannot retrieve a word you have used for ten years. You answer slightly off target, you save the moment, the meeting moves on. And on the way back to your desk a sentence settles in your head, one you will repeat to yourself every week from now on: I am starting to lose my grip.

You are not. Nobody knows about it, because nobody talks about it at work.

This is not your private anomaly

Nobody is collecting Czech data on menopause in the workplace yet. Research from abroad, though, gives a fairly consistent picture.

• Two thirds of women (67 %) aged 40 to 60 say menopause symptoms have a negative effect on their work. CIPD, United Kingdom, 2,185 respondents, 2023
• More than a quarter (27 %) had to reduce what they took on at work because of them. Six per cent left their job, another 17 % considered leaving. CIPD, 2023
• One in ten women has left work because of menopause symptoms. Fawcett Society, United Kingdom, 2022
• Thirteen per cent of employed women reported that symptoms led to absence or reduced performance. The authors estimated the related annual cost in the United States at 1.8 billion dollars. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 4,440 respondents, 2023

The figures differ depending on how and whom they asked. One thing they share. This is not a fringe matter that happened only to you.

What actually happens at work

• Sleep deprivation. After months of broken sleep, the first thing to go is the ability to hold your attention on one thing for any length of time.
• Words going missing. It hurts most in presentations and on the phone, which is exactly where there is no time to search.
• A hot flush at the worst possible moment. In an interview, in front of a client, in a crowded room with no window.
• Dread of things that never used to bother you. A meeting you used to run in your sleep now takes energy a day in advance.
• Heavy and unpredictable bleeding. All-day meetings and business travel turn from a logistical detail into a task of their own.

What to keep to yourself

You do not have to explain your hormones to anyone at work. You owe nobody a diagnosis, and the sentence that you are in perimenopause will not help you on its own. Most people will picture something other than what you actually need.

What does work is naming the consequence and asking for a specific adjustment. The difference between I am going through menopause and I need Mondays to start at ten is everything. The first is information nobody knows what to do with. The second is something that can be settled in a minute.

How to word it

Four sentences that work better than a long explanation.

• I have been sleeping badly for months for health reasons. Mornings are useless for me, afternoons are the opposite. Could we move our meetings later?
• In all-day sessions I need a break every hour and access to water. It is because of a health matter I am dealing with.
• This room is too warm for me and it makes it harder to concentrate. Could I sit closer to the window or bring a small fan?
• For this presentation I would need the material a day in advance. I retain less than I used to and I want to do it well.

They all have the same shape. A short reason, a specific request, no apology.

Who to tell

Not necessarily your manager first. Sometimes it is easier to start with a colleague at the same stage, or with someone in HR who owns working conditions. Once you have said it out loud once, the next conversation is far easier.

If you have a manager you cannot say this to, that is not your fault. Nor is it a reason to do nothing. You can still ask for a specific adjustment without going into detail.

What you are entitled to

Here I will be careful. Working conditions, the right to adjust your hours and what counts as a health reason are governed by law and by internal policy, and they differ by employer and by country. This text is not legal advice.

What is worth doing is reading your internal rules and asking HR what already exists where you work. Often more exists than people know about.

The other side of the table

The data from abroad points to one more thing. What women most often lack is not treatment but information and a trained manager who knows what is being talked about. That is the part a company can solve in one morning.

If someone who decides on working conditions is reading this, here is what a company can do about it.

You are not less capable than you were five years ago. You are working in conditions that were never designed with this stage in mind.

This is information, not legal or medical advice.

See the programme of upcoming seminars, where we take each of these topics apart in depth. Seminars are held in Czech.