More and more employers are making the important commitment to becoming menopause friendly, and even achieving accreditation by our Independent Panel as Menopause Friendly Employers. Has your employer?
It’s been a great year and here’s to a menopause friendly 2023…
So far, we have seen well over 300 member organisations making the important commitment to becoming menopause friendly. That’s a fantastic number, especially when we also realise that 35 member organisations are now accredited by our Independent Panel as Menopause Friendly. We’re delighted to see so many employers taking menopause in the workplace seriously and putting their colleagues’ wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion centre stage.
Your New Year resolution
We’d like all employers to make a New Year resolution to becoming menopause friendly in 2023. Support doesn’t need to be expensive or difficult, but it does need to be consistent and demonstrated across all areas of your business. Think about how you can either start introducing support and training, or how you could extend what you’re already doing.
Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP has set a challenge, to see 50% of UK businesses with a menopause policy in place by World Menopause Day in October 2023. According to research from the CIPD, this figure currently stands at around 30%.
“If every business which currently has a menopause policy in place encourages at least one other business in their network to do the same, we would reach the 50% target,” she says.
So it’s time to either get started if you’ve not already begun, keep your campaigns going or if you’re already well underway ‘find a friend’ – another employer who hasn’t made this important decision.
The Menopause Friendly Employer Awards
On 22 September 2022, we held the inaugural Menopause Friendly Employer Awards at Leonardo Royal Hotel, London. We were joined by over 180 Menopause Friendly Members in person, and hundreds more virtually to celebrate the wonderful organisations that are committed to being, or already accredited, as Menopause Friendly Employers.
Hosted by Louise Minchin and supported by Rt Hon Caroline Nokes MP, the Awards truly were a night to remember. It was a time to recognise and celebrate those organisations who are changing the lived experience of menopause for their employees. We saw some really inspirational entries, far more than we could have hoped for, and huge congratulations to our winners! Truly well deserved success.
The fact we can even hold these Awards speaks volumes about how far we’ve come in terms of menopause support.
And they’ll be back for 2023: we can’t wait to see the pace accelerate even faster!
What does it mean to be Menopause Friendly?
This industry-recognised accreditation sets out clear standards for employers to meet to be recognised by our Independent Panel as being Menopause Friendly.
Far more than a promise or a pledge. The first step is in committing to becoming Menopause Friendly. From there, your organisation can be supported in introducing training, policy or guidance documents, company-wide communication and menopause events.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Each organisation is different. The key is in changing hearts and minds, creating a culture where menopause can be openly discussed and employees across the whole company feel supported.
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