When Menopause Looks Like Poor Performance
How fatigue, disrupted sleep, brain fog and loss of confidence can show up at work, and why managers can misread what's happening.
A monthly 60-minute briefing for employers The Menopause
The Menopause
Briefing
A monthly 60-minute briefing for employers on menopause, workplace culture and the risks of getting it wrong.
Wednesday 28th October
12pm
via Zoom
Join HR, People leaders and senior leaders for practical, straight-talking conversations about supporting women at work, building better workplace cultures and navigating the changing menopause landscape.
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Why this matters
Menopause is where risk, culture and retention collide. And the rules of the game are changing.
Women over 50 are the fastest-growing segment of the UK workforce. And with the average age of menopause at 51, this isn't a niche wellbeing issue affecting a handful of employees.
These are some of your most experienced women: managers, leaders, specialists and people carrying years of organisational knowledge.
Supporting them to stay, thrive and do their best work isn't just the right thing to do. It's a people, culture and business issue.
And with the workplace menopause landscape changing, employers increasingly need to understand not just menopause itself, but the risk of getting it wrong.
With Menopause Action Plans becoming a legal requirement for
large employers from April 2027, alongside wider changes to
employment rights, menopause can no longer sit quietly in the
wellbeing folder.
Is this for you?
Who this is for
For HR, People, Wellbeing, EDI, L&D professionals, senior leaders and line managers with responsibility for people, culture or workplace risk.
Better workplaces for midlife and beyond.
You're starting to think seriously about menopause support and don't know where to begin.
You're already doing something, perhaps a policy, awareness session or champions, but aren't sure whether it's actually changing the culture.
You're trying to create a workplace where women feel safe to speak up, ask for support and stay doing their best work.
You're preparing for the Employment Rights Act changes and trying to understand what they mean in practice.
You're concerned about the impact menopause could be having on retention, absence, performance, burnout and the loss of experienced women.
You're responsible for line managers who need to have better, safer, more human conversations because getting this wrong can feel like a minefield.
You're trying to balance supporting women properly with managing the very real people, culture and organisational risks of getting menopause wrong.
Join the next Menopause Briefing
Wednesday 28th October at 12pm, live via Zoom.
Let's be clear
Who this is not for
This isn't Menopause 101.
If you're looking for a session about hot flushes, HRT and the basic biology of menopause, this probably isn't it (but yes, let's talk about that separately).
And if your organisation is looking for a menopause policy it can put on the intranet and consider the job done, we're probably not going to be a great fit either.
This is for organisations interested in what happens after awareness: in management, performance, absence, retention, workplace culture and risk.
Not another
tick-box exercise.
The programme
What We'll Be Discussing
One issue. Once a month. Properly unpacked.
Each month we'll take a different workplace menopause issue and look at what it means for your people, your managers and your organisation.
ERA25: What Actually Changes for Employers?
Menopause Action Plans, wider employment-rights changes and the risks HR teams need to think about together.
The 7 Risks of Getting Menopause Wrong
The people, culture and organisational risks employers need to understand.
You've Got a Menopause Policy. Now What?
The gap between having something written down and creating a workplace where women can actually use it.
The Line Manager Problem
Why your menopause strategy lives or dies in everyday conversations between managers and their teams.
Why Women Don't Tell You They're Struggling
Disclosure, psychological safety and why "nobody has raised menopause with us" isn't a defensible answer.
Where the Hell Do We Start?
A practical first-steps session for organisations that know they need to do something.
We'll also respond to new legislation, government guidance, tribunal decisions and emerging workplace menopause developments, so the programme will evolve as the landscape changes.
Why employers need to pay attention
The Facts
1 in 10
women who worked during menopause have left a job because of their symptoms.
67%
of working women aged 40 to 60 who had experienced menopausal symptoms said they had a mostly negative impact on them at work.
53%
could recall a time when they were unable to go into work because of their menopause symptoms.
Your invitation Join the next
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Join the next
Menopause Briefing
A monthly 60-minute briefing for employers on menopause, workplace culture and the risks of getting it wrong.
Wednesday 28th October
12pm
via Zoom
Register to receive your joining link and invitations to future Menopause Briefings. Unsubscribe at any time. No spam.
What about your organisation?
Has this raised a few questions?
Perhaps you've realised your menopause policy isn't doing quite as much as you thought.
Maybe you're wondering whether your managers would know what to do if someone was struggling.
Or perhaps you've reached the very reasonable conclusion that you don't actually know where your gaps are.
Let's have a chat.
Book a free 20 to 30 minute conversation with me. No audit. No enormous questionnaire. No awkward sales pitch.
We'll talk about what you're currently doing, what's concerning you and where you might need to look next.
If there's something I can help with, I'll tell you. And if the next sensible step is a deeper piece of work, we can talk about that too.
Let's have a chat: 30 minutes Who you'll be hearing from
Hi, I'm Debbie.
I've spent 25 years working in people and performance management across corporates, SMEs and the NHS.
I've led teams, delivered targets and managed the messy people stuff that comes with being responsible for both.
I've always been HR-adjacent: recruiting people, managing absence and return to works, having difficult performance conversations, putting improvement plans in place and, sometimes, managing disciplinaries, probation reviews and dismissals.
And I'm also the 1 in 10.
I left the workplace during menopause when the way I was expected to work no longer fitted what I needed, and when the support that could have helped me continue to perform at my best wasn't there.
So I've sat on both sides of the table.
I understand the realities facing managers and organisations. And I understand what it feels like to be a capable, experienced woman struggling in a workplace that doesn't understand what's happening to her.
That's why my work isn't about ticking a menopause box.
It's about supporting women, equipping managers and creating workplace cultures where experienced women can continue to thrive, while helping organisations understand and reduce the very real risks of getting it wrong.
The next briefing
Save your place.
Practical, straight-talking conversations about menopause, people, culture and workplace risk.
Wednesday 28th October 12pm Live via Zoom 60 minutes
Save my place