Welcome to Rise Up, AllBright’s celebration of diverse careers, diverse experiences and diverse women in the workplace. Curated by our community, for our community, this is a space to champion the incredible work achieved by all women. Here, we hear the advice of industry experts and game-changing voices on navigating the menopause, while defining the next chapter for your life as a positive one during a phase of personal change.

How much thought have you given to your menopause? If you’re under 40, the answer is likely to be ‘not much’. If, however, you are one of the 80% of women between the ages of 45 and 55 currently experiencing the symptoms of the menopause, it’s likely to be at the very forefront of your mind. The menopause is a fact of life for most women on the planet. In the UK, US and Australia, the average age for the menopause – defined as the 12-months after a woman’s last period – is 51, right at the time when she is likely to be reaching the upper echelons of her career. However, one in every 100 women in the UK experiences the menopause before the age of 40, and then there are the women who have a medically induced menopause due to cancer treatment or the removal of their ovaries.

According to the NHS , symptoms typically start a few months or years before your periods stop, known as the perimenopause. On average, most symptoms last around four years from your last period but around one in every 10 women will experience them for up to 12 years. “The menopause is an endurance event; it makes pregnancy and periods seem like a sprint,” says Kate Usher, a menopause and relationships coach and the author of Your Second Phase: reclaiming work and relationships during and after Menopause . “It doesn’t take a day off, it doesn’t go on holiday and you can’t leave your symptoms at the security gate – they are with you night and day. You can’t stop being a menopausal woman just because you’re at work, and you need to be prepared for it.”

The Menopause Taboo Aside from the classic signs of menopause – hot flushes, irregular periods, forgetfulness, irritability and insomnia – there are 34 recognised symptoms and possibly more still. These can range from joint pain and itchy skin, to stress, incontinence and panic disorder. Put these in a workplace context, where the menopause is still relatively taboo, and it’s not surprising that one in four women have considered leaving their job because of their menopause.

According to Mckinsey’s Women In The Workplace 2020 report, the possibility of losing so many senior-level women is “alarming” for several reasons.   As the report states: “ Research shows that company profits and share performance can be close to 50% higher when women are well represented at the top.” Senior-level women also have a vast and meaningful impact on a company’s culture. According the report, more than 50% of senior-level women say they consistently take a public stand for gender and racial equality at work, compared with about 40% of senior-level men. “If you’re losing women because you’re not supporting them through their menopause, you’re not only losing some of your most talented women but also their industry and organisational knowledge, their networks and their ability to sponsor, mentor and train the next generation who are coming through,” says Usher. “If the younger women in the organisation don’t see women in the senior roles, many of them choose to leave and go to an organisation where they do.”

Debilitating Symptoms Usher previously worked as an international project manager for FTSE 100 companies, before pivoting to career coaching after the financial crisis. She states that the menopause had a life-changing impact on her. “A few days after my 46th birthday I woke up in the middle of the night thinking I was about to self-combust,” she says. “I was so hot and I couldn’t cool down. That’s where it started and it did not stop. I collected probably 27 symptoms – they just kept coming. “They took me from the woman who could travel the world, create highly functioning interactive teams, who was always a very able, positive, creative person, to suddenly being unable to go out of the front door. It absolutely robbed me of the woman that I knew and I didn’t know what to do. It was utterly devastating.”

Research suggests that 70-80% of women experience symptoms of the menopause. For just over a quarter, they are debilitating. This collision between what can be a huge life event and the responsibilities that come with reaching the upper-rungs of the career ladder, can have a significant impact. For Usher, relief for her menopause symptoms came through coaching, diet and exercise, until things worsened and she chose to go on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). “It’s an extremely personal choice and HRT does carry risks, but for my quality of life it was essential,” she says. Professor Maralyn Druce, a Consultant Endocrinologist at OneWelbeck Endocrinology in London, adds that one of the issues that many women face around HRT is navigating exactly what it is. “HRT is not a ‘one size fits all’ approach, and it’s not just one thing,” she explains. “Firstly, there’s more than one hormone, there’s more than one formulation, there’s more than one route of administration and more than one type. Lots of things get put under the HRT umbrella that are hormones but are not a formal replacement. HRT is not always appropriate or desired by some women,” Professor Druce says. She advises women to “arm themselves with high-quality information” when it comes to their menopause. “Start reading, thinking and understanding what might be going on for you because then you are empowered in any healthcare consultation,” she says.

It’s Not Always About The Menopause However, another important consideration at this stage in life is that women often have a variety of stressors, says Eleanor Mills. Mills is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Noon – a new platform to empower women in midlife – and the former Editorial Director of The Sunday Times and Chair of Women in Journalism. “At this point in women’s lives, they can get hit by a kind of tsunami of different stressful incidents: bereavement, divorce, teens with mental illness, elderly parents, and redundancy and furlough in the recession,” she says. “I think that it’s slightly reductive to put all of that in a menopause bracket."

“Of course, women who are having problems with their menopause need all the help they can get, and it’s a disgrace that training in menopause is not compulsory for GPs," says Mills. But I would rather think about the midlife pinch points, with menopause being one of those. I think that what women need is help and advice to get through those issues, and then have a much more positive narrative about the next chapter of their lives.” Professor Druce agrees. "Some of the symptoms around the time of the menopause may not relate to hormonal flux at all, but rather to other life events that are happening at this time,” she says. “It’s quite hard to unpick it sometimes, and it’s not surprising that you could generate an enormously long list of things that are troubling women at this age.”

How To Manage Your Menopause At Work If you’re finding that your symptoms are affecting the way you show up at work, it might be best to arrange a conversation with your manager, says Usher. “The reputation that you have built over many decades of your career can go very quickly if you are bursting into tears or you’re not putting yourself forward for work, because you’re frightened that when you stand up in front of people you can’t remember what you were going to say. It’s time to sit down and think about what it is you need in order to hold on to your career and your ambitions,” she says. First of all, do your research. “You need to prepare for this conversation like you would any serious conversation at work,” says Usher. “Look at what your organisation’s policies are, find out if they offer adjustments and what the qualifying factors might be. You need to think about how your manager is in other areas of wellbeing – are they supportive or not? Do they allow you to have a level of flexibility? These will be the clues as to how this person is going to receive this information.” Usher advises finding out if there are other women or groups in your organisation that are talking about the menopause. “If not, potentially start one, because as a group you are far more powerful than as a single woman. There is everything to play for,” she says.

When requesting the meeting with your manager, Usher advises telling them what the conversation will be about. “You are going to feel nervous having this conversation because you're revealing that you are aware that your behaviour at work is not as it was, and that feels very sensitive indeed,” she says. “Let your manager do their background research – they may want to bring in someone from HR because they may feel unable to deal with this. It is about making sure that everyone can act on your requests.” And if you're managing someone that you think might be menopausal? “It’s about increasing the level of awareness within your team and your organisation, because when everybody knows then there’s no longer a taboo, and it just becomes another part of life,” she says. “We have to stop seeing the menopause as a women’s issue – it’s a workplace issue. It’s a fact of female life and women have to make themselves aware, and so do men.”

The crucial thing to remember is that the menopause doesn’t last forever. “The thing we don’t talk about in menopause, and it’s the most important piece, is that on the other side of it you become the focus of your life,” says Usher. “Your ambitions are suddenly central to what you want and how you want to live your life. You become more focused, more determined and more of a powerhouse than you have ever known, and that is not the story we are told. Yes, your body is going through this bizarre dance until it gets to the other side but when you get there, you are pretty formidable.” Eleanor Mills agrees. “In many ways, in midlife you come into your power,” she says. “You get through this intense time of having to look after everybody else and then you have a blank canvas. We should be feeling really optimistic for women about what that canvas can look like. You can become an entrepreneur, you can become something creative, you can go and start a charity. I personally feel more vigorous than I have in years and I think it’s a great moment for a new start. It’s all about being positive. “Change is really difficult but the pain of that crucible, and having to slough off all those old ways of thinking, gets you to a great next place and you come out of it feeling so much more alive. My great cry is ‘you’re never too old to be what you wanted to be’.”

Ask An Expert Affected by your menopause? Professor Maralyn Druce, a Consultant Endocrinologist at OneWelbeck Endocrinology in London, shares her advice. Further Reading The Complete Guide to the Menopause: Your Toolkit to Take Control and Achieve Lifelong Health by Annice Mukherjee is a very good book written by a fellow endocrinologist. www.menopausematters.co.uk is a very useful website. The Society for Endocrinology has a website called https://www.yourhormones.info which doesn’t major on the menopause but has well-checked high-quality information from clinical professionals. For patient-facing, practical videos, the British Menopause Society’s YouTube channel is very good. Remember that the menopause will affect women differently. If you’re looking for more information, please visit the NHS website here or speak to your doctor.  

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