NatWest on its commitment to support women experiencing menopause in the workplace

Menopause is rarely a topic of open discussion in the workplace – even though 50% of the world’s population experiences or will experience this biological transition at some point in their life. Studies show that a startling one in four women will experience serious menopause symptoms, which can have a significant impact on attendance and performance. Moreover, the menopause often intersects with a critical career stage (45-55), the age bracket which women are most likely to move into top leadership positions. Sadly, some female colleagues even decide to pause or end their careers during the menopause as a result of the symptoms they are experiencing.

Our approach at NatWest

Guided by a commitment to make NatWest a purpose-led, inclusive organisation where we champion the potential of all our colleagues, we’ve been working to build awareness and understanding of the menopause across our organisation, as well as improve the support available for those experiencing menopause in the workplace. By fostering a culture of openness, awareness and inclusivity, we hope to become a forward-thinking employer where we support, motivate and retain some of the most valuable members of our workforce.

We prioritised a Women’s Health Campaign, covering many aspects of reproductive health. We welcomed Dr Shahzadi Harper and Nuffield Health into the organisation, who led a variety of virtual sessions on menopause and reproductive health to improve the understanding of our colleagues. We also welcomed Lauren Chiren as a speaker at our virtual Mental Health Conference, and Henpicked who facilitated an educational webinar with some of our line managers focusing on reasonable adjustments and how to approach a conversation about menopause with colleagues.

We know that storytelling and sharing experiences is an effective and impactful way to start conversations about health and wellbeing in the workplace, and to create an environment of openness and transparency. As such, as part of the campaign, importantly both male and female colleagues discussed their experiences of menopause on film, exploring topics such as early menopause and its impacts on fertility. In addition, one of our colleagues shared a candid account of her experience of early menopause for an article on our internal intranet page. With more than 400 ‘likes’ and close to 100 comments on the article, we knew we had tapped into something important.

Practical support

As well as promoting conversation around menopause, we have sought to improve the support on offer to our colleagues. We have a menopause support guide in place to help line managers have effective conversations with colleagues raising a perimenopause or menopause concern, as well as outlining what support and/or changes might be appropriate for the colleague. We also know that menopause can be a long-term and fluctuating health change and, as such, we have reviewed our absence policy to include reference to menopause-related symptoms. We have launched a ‘Menopause Chatroom’ on our internal social media site which has attracted around 350 of our colleagues, providing a safe forum to share stories and extend support to others in a similar situation.

Building on that, this year we have trained over 1,100 wellbeing champions across the organisation who help to promote a holistic view of positive health and wellbeing. The role of the champion is to raise awareness, educate others, and signpost the most appropriate support and resources to colleagues. We have included information on menopause as part of this training to ensure that champions are well equipped to signpost menopause support to colleagues who need it most.

Continuing to build a supportive environment

We’re hugely proud of the progress we’ve made and are aware there’s more work to be done to help build a supportive environment both for those living with menopausal symptoms, and for colleagues and line managers to understand the simple steps they can take to reduce the impact.

Looking forward to 2021, we are keen to maintain focus, remove barriers and create more awareness on menopause and reproductive health. As a result, we have built these topics into the next iteration of our wellbeing agenda. We’ll be looking to increase training for our line manager population, create menopause ‘Talk Clubs’ and continue to build awareness through storytelling, as well as sharing our experiences with customers and our broader peer community.

The authors are Chloe Corr, colleague experience & proposition consultant, and Fiona McAslan, wellbeing lead both from NatWest Group.