Electing menopause champions in the workplace and appointing a project sponsor to lead and promote the menopause conversation internally helps to:
- Foster a positive and inclusive environment where it’s ok to talk about menopause.
- Directly support employees experiencing menopause symptoms in the workplace so they can continue to perform at their best.
The two roles however are quite distinct.
Menopause Champions
Menopause champions play an active, ongoing role in ensuring your menopause programme remains lively, relevant and front of mind for all employees. They can act as a ‘listening ear’, facilitate menopause meet ups and signpost support both internally and externally. Champions can also bring fresh ideas to your initiative both from a personal perspective and their internal network helping to embed menopause as a mainstream conversation in all parts of your business.
Their role can include:
- Organising informal meet ups for people experiencing symptoms to get together, feel supported and be able to talk about how menopause is effecting them at work and at home. These meetings can be face to face or virtual to include multiple office locations.
- Signposting colleagues to the appropriate support and information already available within your company and to expert sources of advice externally.
- Collating and presenting feedback to your Menopause Project Sponsor to help inform the strategy for your menopause initiative going forward.
Menopause Project Sponsor
You only need one Menopause Project Sponsor and appointing a senior young woman or a male employee helps to present menopause as a more accessible topic.
This is not a figurehead role simply signing off your menopause policy documents. He or she is there to raise the profile of menopause with the leadership team and promote a culture in which employees feel comfortable disclosing menopause related health problems.
The project sponsor should share best practice with industry peers and evidence how positive attitudes to ageing and menopause have a direct impact on productivity, attrition rates and employee engagement for the whole organisation.
Other roles your organisation should consider with regards to managing menopause in the workplace include the role of occupational health, line managers, HR and your employee assistance scheme.
For information about our menopause champion training programme please email julie@juliedennis.net with your contact details and an outline of what your organisation is currently doing around the topic of menopause.
