The Cool Colleagues Guide to Menopause
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How do we support our colleagues in menopause and perimenopause?
Firstly, You Don’t Have To!
You are entitled to chose to have nothing to do with menopause or perimenopause. Never to talk about it. Never to read about it. Not to care about it. Leave the room if the subject comes up.
It’s fine to opt out. But if you do, you need to own that choice. If you’re not informing yourself and you’re not hearing people’s experience, then you’re not going to have a particularly useful opinion. It’s not fair for you to make assumptions, to complain about how other people cope, or to dismiss other people’s experience.
As they say in the wedding ceremony, ‘forever hold your peace’.
But If You Want To?
- Start by informing yourself. It won’t make you the expert on every menopause because it’s something everyone experiences differently. But it will open your eyes. There are lots of books and blogs out there, and you could do worse than start here or perhaps this graphic will be useful.
2. If your workplace runs menopause information sessions, please come along — even if you’re a man or far too young. It happens sooner than we expect and it happens to mums, sisters, wives, and daughters too. It’s also a way of showing support to your colleagues who are experiencing menopause or perimenopause.
3. Once you’ve got your new found insight, do remember that not all of us want to talk about our menopausal and perimenopausal experience. It’s usually best to wait for those who are experiencing it to open the conversation. But if the topic comes up, it’s nice to signal that you’re comfortable with it.
4. Sometimes it might feel appropriate to opt out of those conversations. But if you are included in those discussions, you can be proud of the trust that’s been put in you.
5. It’s helpful to ask open-ended questions, whether it’s an informal chat between staff or you find yourself needing to broach the subject as a manager. Even something as simple as ‘how are you’ or ‘what’s going on with…
