Luula Abdulkadir

Menopause should become a protected characteristic under the Equality Act and a special ambassador should be in place to keep women in the workplace, a report from a cross-party group of MPs has said.

Now that even the speaker of the traditionally male-dominated House of Commons has vowed to make the institution menopause friendly for staff, the days of the ‘change of life’ being a taboo subject that’s often swept under the carpet are truly numbered. Signing the Menopause Workplace Pledge, Sir Lindsay Hoyle said women run his office and he doesn't want to see them leave because of the menopause.

Further, over 70 percent of their team were not telling managers that mental health issues were the real reason for the time they took off. The findings were the catalyst for the business to introduce mental health sick days. The days are categorised as ‘personal days,’ can be taken whenever needed and are deliberately made public to the whole organisation (via Slack) in an attempt to tackle the stigma of mental health and so colleagues can be made aware.