A new inclusion angle
Life stage investments are essential, yet often overlooked
Understanding and explaining how demographic trends shape health and economic conditions is what I do, and there is one critical group that some workplaces still don’t fully understand well enough: middle-aged women.
That’s not exactly news. Women comprise 47.4% of the American workforce— and hold 42.1% of all managerial positions, many at midlife. Also, no surprise? Men still make up a disproportionately large percentage of leadership positions.
But what is often missed in some DEI strategies is something that, up until now, is being overlooked: menopause, its symptoms, and its impact on the workplace.
As a demographic strategist and author of “The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny” (Harper Collins), I've delved into the latest global data and trends on menopause for the past three years and have found that many women in the workplace both want and need HR policies that accommodate their unique health during midlife.
During a presentation at The Conference Board in 2022, I witnessed the corporate disconnect on menopause firsthand when one male executive from a leading hospitality company chuckled when I suggested that companies should implement menopause policies and supports, citing moves in the UK designed to improve female worker retention through the creation of menopause policies and supports in midlife. Needless to say, he was met with jeers from the women in the room, highlighting the disconnect between what women want, what men understand, and what current benefits and support programs provide.
Realities of the modern workforce
Menopause, of course, isn’t new. All women go through it, and many (though not all), experience extreme symptoms during this stage of their lives, and have been since the dawn of humanity. But now, more women in midlife are working, and their numbers are rising significantly as a percentage of the workforce. Creating a work culture more accommodating to their unique needs is becoming a critical part of the new recruitment and retention strategies some progressive companies are creating.
Here's why:
Research from the Mayo Clinic indicates that American businesses annually incur losses of approximately $26 billion due to menopause-related issues, with an estimated $1.8 billion attributed solely to lost working hours.
Furthermore, Bloomberg reports that global productivity losses related to menopause may exceed $150 billion each year.
According to a Bank of America Survey, nearly two-thirds (64%) of women want menopause-specific benefits. When benefits are offered, 58% of women surveyed report they have had a positive impact on their work.
Proactive companies are utilizing a successful blueprint to develop their menopause policies and support that include listening to their employees, building innovative benefits, raising internal awareness, and participating in advocacy for more research.
There are also some further considerations to keep front and center.
Midlife women are leveraging decades of experience to drive growth and innovation from small ‘mom-and-pops’ to large multinational corporations and national governments – and many of these same women are also serving as the primary breadwinners for their household and caregivers for their aging parents and children.
Businesses and policymakers need to create more inclusive environments, acknowledging and accommodating the unique challenges faced by this demographic and people of all ages, especially if they want to remain competitive in our new demographic reality.
For more on this issue, check out this piece I wrote last week on menopause that appeared in the Harvard Business Review, and let us know your take.