Menopause affects half of all employees so why don't we feel comfortable talking about
it talking about the menopause it can feel uncomfortable and difficult i really want to
change that so i've put together this short video to help you have that all important conversation
with your employer your manager someone in hr or even another member of your team using a simple
to follow framework which will help you to prepare what to say and how to structure your conversation
as well as how to follow up after your initial chat before we dive in here's some big facts
about menopause in the uk there are three and a half million women over 50 in the workplace
three out of four women experience menopause symptoms where one in four could experience
symptoms that are serious the average age for a woman to undergo the menopause in the uk
is 51 but around 1 and every 100 will experience it before the age of 40.
and yet it's still seen as an uncomfortable topic to talk about why is that
women in the workplace they do their very best to manage their own self-care through menopause
but sadly for some the symptoms and the impact they can have they don't stop or magically
disappear when you step into work mode and so for many it's a conversation that's not an easy one to
initiate or even to have and some of the reasons might be that you feel embarrassed you don't want
to explain what's going on for you it might be you're not even sure yourself what's happening
you might not want to be seen to be struggling or perhaps it's a fear of being ridiculed
so before you broach the topic you can start by asking yourself two questions the first question
is what is the problem but also ask what does the other person think is the problem what this
does is this helps you to see it from the other person's point of view because here's the thing
there is a high possibility that the person you have your conversation with has no or very little
experience of menopause or understands how it can affect employees like you in the workplace
okay now we're going to start just putting the plan the outline together for your conversation
so begin by planning what you want to say by making some notes jot down some notes and key
points before your initial conversation now i know it's tempting to go i'll draft out a script
but drafting a script is going to be a waste of time because it's very unlikely that it will go
according to your plan or your script so why not why is it not going to go to script to script
because your manager doesn't know their lines so if you've prepared a script or an
outline of how you want your conversation to go they can very quickly go off script
and then you can find yourself stuck frustrated feeling overwhelmed and this can be particularly
tricky if one of your menopause symptoms is brain fog make notes of how you're being affected
and impacted and think about what practical and reasonable adjustments would help you and think
about a time frame for the help that you would like to it may be that you need some support
help better understanding or flexibility for a short amount of time to just help you through
this natural part of life we're now going to look at how you can outline your conversation with
your manager and we're going to break it down into four parts the first part is i have a problem
the second part this is how it's affecting me the third part this is how it's impacting my work
and the fourth part and here's what i need help with in order to improve my productivity
within a suggested time frame so let's have a look at the first part of starting your conversation
this is where you can explain your situation clearly you can talk to your boss about your
current situation and what's happening now with perimenopause and menopause there are
a broad variety of symptoms but we're going to use two here in this example
i'm experiencing hot flushes because of my menopause or i'm exhausted because of night sweats
caused by my menopause and then on to the next part of the framework part two
you can then explain how it's affecting you so if for you you're experiencing hot flushes
how it's impacting on you could be which means i'm spending time away from my desk
not being productive because i need to go and find somewhere to cool down
if you're exhausted because of your lack of sleep caused by your night sweats
it could be that your tiredness is making it much more difficult for you to make decisions it could
be that you're taking longer and you've not got as much faith or confidence in the decisions
that you're making and it's taking you longer to get your tasks completed the third part of your
conversation is offering your manager a solution think about how your situation could be improved
and offer them a reasonable solution to make things better so for example if hot flushes
are worse for you in the office could you be provided with a fan or be moved nearer to a window
and have access to cold drinking water if the office has air conditioning could your desk be
moved closer to that if sleep is a problem for you could you come in to work later or work from home
now that you have an idea of what you would like to see we're sure you'd like to make it
sound conversational so i've put something together to help you to do that so when you
start your conversation with your manager or your employer you could say something like this thanks
for making time to sit down with me you know how important the product launch is and how important
it is to me too but i'm really struggling to move forward and part of the problem is
i'm struggling with menopause symptoms i'd really like us to find a way for me to be as productive
as possible i've got a couple of ideas and would love to hear your thoughts too okay the last thing
you want is to have had the conversation and then no actions come from it nothing so be prepared
that your manager may tell you that they need time to think about what you've told them now remember
this could be the first time that they've had a conversation about menopause or become aware
that symptoms like what you're going through can have such an impact on you so plan a time for your
next meeting to see how things are progressing make sure you've got a date in the diary to follow
up with them you might be saying it's all well and good tracy but my manager isn't someone that i can
feel i can talk to perhaps you can reach out to another colleague within the company someone you
trust and feel comfortable talking to this could also be someone who is in hr or
someone in occupational health if your company or organization has an occupational health department
so there you have it the beginnings of how to put your conversation together the kind of things to
include so to recap the first thing to do is to ask yourself what is the problem and then think
about the person that you're going to have the conversation with what does the other person think
is the problem then you can sit down and make your notes so you can prepare what it is you want to
say in a clear and a simple way and the four steps i have a problem this is how it's affecting me
this is how it's impacting my work and here's what i need help with in order
to improve my productivity within a suggested time frame and then always ask for the follow-up
i really hope you find these ideas useful so that you can feel empowered and more confident to start
your menopause conversation with your manager but what you can also do is point your manager in the
direction of the menopause training company they can check out our videos that we create
specifically for them and they can also check out our website as well we've got lots of useful
and helpful information for them as well and then wouldn't it be great you and your manager
having a really useful helpful natural conversation about the menopause in the workplace
let me help you have comfortable conversations about menopause without the worry of saying
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