menopause it's being talked about more and more on social media newspapers radio tv
and in the workplace but for many managers like you talking about it can feel uncomfortable
and awkward and in a recent study of 500 women 10 said they didn't talk to their manager
because they felt that their manager would be embarrassed so in this video i'm going to
share the most common reasons why managers like you can find talking about menopause
tricky but what you can do to reduce your initial discomfort so you can talk about menopause
more easily and feel less awkward so what is it that makes menopause such a difficult conversation
for managers well there's a few reasons that you can feel uncomfortable the first reason could be
that you're not really sure what menopause or perimenopause is so you avoid talking about it
you're not really sure how it can affect your colleague at work or at home you're not fully
aware of the full range of symptoms that they can potentially experience just so that you know there
are around 40 symptoms that they can have you could be really uncertain about what the outcome
is going to be from a discussion around menopause or perhaps you do have a good idea right up front
and that's that you simply have different views of a situation so it's easier for you to avoid
talking about it you can appreciate that talking with a colleague about menopause can be
quite an emotional situation and you might be concerned about how you or the other person
is going to handle that you could be afraid or worried that something you say or do
could inflame the situation and make it worse you might be unsure if you can
ask your colleague if they're struggling with perimenopause or menopause symptoms
okay let's talk about this now it's not advisable to make assumptions about someone's
health condition or to ask them a direct question as to whether they have perimenopause
or menopause symptoms if you do have concerns about someone's well-being or their performance
you can ask general open questions such as how are you doing at the moment or
i've noticed you've been arriving late recently and i wondered if you're okay
the key thing to remember is that it's up to the individual to disclose any particular symptoms
or health issues that they may be experiencing so what can you do to make menopause less awkward for
you as a manager make it feel less like a mind field well what you can do is you can ask for
or attend difficult conversation training you can ask for or attend menopause awareness training but
what you can do is you can get your hands on some fab free resources to help you not only understand
menopause but give you the tools are going to help you to talk about menopause one of the first
places you can go is to check out positivity they offer a free information pack about the menopause
so what's included well they provide a symptom tracker for your colleague they also share the
best questions to ask when your colleague visits the gp or the doctor this year's self-care tips
they also have helpful resources that can contain knowledge advice and support
they even have a section for your colleagues how to approach asking for support
in the workplace and they also have key statistics you know why you should understand
the menopause and understand it quickly and take action and the most useful tool is a poster
that shares about the key symptoms so you can print this off and share it around the office
you can put it on your website you can email it and it's a great way to get the conversation
started in the menopause but also educates you around the menopause and perimenopause
find out how to organize a menopause cafe so you can check out the menopause cafe and discover how
to create a safe place to talk about menopause with a cuppa and a cake and this can be done
online or in person now the great thing is this is a great way to get others talking about menopause
in the workplace now you might feel uncomfortable about going but what you will learn about how to
set up a menopause cafe will help you feel less awkward about it there's also me i share free
resources for managers and the workplace too so what you can do is be sure to check out
other videos on my channel and you can even check out blogs on my website too
menopause isn't going away and like other sensitive or difficult topics the more awareness
and education that you have about it the easier it becomes to discuss and i'd love to hear what
you're going to do to help you feel less awkward about talking about menopause in your workplace
or if you have any questions please feel free to pop them below let me help you have comfortable
conversations about menopause without the worry of saying or doing the wrong thing remember
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