Today I joined a Menopause 101 conversation at a corporate event, and the first thing I want to do is thank the organization.
THE BOLD MOVE WAS PUTTING IT ON THE AGENDA
Most employers never go there, and this one did.
Bringing menopause to the front of the room is a bold, progressive decision. Silence is the default at work, and this team chose to end it.
We covered the basics. Menopause is confirmed after 12 months without a period. Perimenopause, the stretch before it, can begin in the late 30s. Hot flashes and night sweats get the most attention, but brain fog, racing heart, joint pain and fatigue often get blamed on stress or aging. At work, that can mean losing your place in a presentation or dragging through a week of travel.
Many women hide it, and it costs them. In a Mayo Clinic survey of 4,440 employed women aged 45 to 60, 13.4% reported at least one adverse work outcome from menopause symptoms. The authors estimated $1.8 billion in lost work time each year in the U.S.[1]
Three things stood out to me from our conversation today.
1. MEN BELONG IN THIS CONVERSATION
They are colleagues, and many of them are partners.
Women have gone through this quietly at work for years, so many leaders never knew what was happening on their own teams. The stigma is fading and more voices are speaking up, which has opened a gap in care. Men want to help and don’t know which questions to ask or where to begin.
Education closes that gap. To the two men in the room today, thank you for being there. Support starts with showing up.
2. ANDROPAUSE RARELY GETS DISCUSSED
Men have a hormone shift of their own.
Andropause is the gradual drop in testosterone with age. It can bring fatigue, low mood, and trouble concentrating. Almost nobody talks about it.
The support looks the same as it does for menopause: flexibility, understanding, and an open conversation. A workplace that accepts hormone changes in everyone sets a better standard for everyone.
3. THE HEART CONNECTION NEEDS MORE ATTENTION
Estrogen helps protect your heart, and it declines during this transition.
Estrogen helps keep blood vessels healthy, so heart risk climbs when it falls. Heart disease is the number one killer of women. It caused 304,970 deaths among women in 2023, about one in five female deaths.[2] The American Heart Association describes the menopause transition as a time of accelerating cardiovascular risk.[3]
The link rarely gets mentioned. Women who know about it can ask for heart screening sooner.
WHAT COMES NEXT
One event starts the conversation, and a regular schedule keeps it going.
I’m grateful I was invited to start this conversation. I hope it grows into regular training and education for everyone at the company.
If you lead a team, try one question this week: “What would make work easier for you right now?” Then listen to the answer.
Want this conversation at your organization? Send a message, reply to this email or visit menoandmoney.com.
Congratulations! This is such an important conversation to have at the workplace. SO many women have suffered in silence and have lived out their symptoms in a less than friendly space. Also, the menopausal transition is an inflection point for cardiometabolic health. This is such an important time for women to pay attention to their personal risk factors for the #1 killer of women in the US, heart disease.