Video tutorial: Lee McNamara on rolling out menopause support at DFS

Over the last few months, sofa retailer and manufacturer DFS has implemented menopause support for its employees and their families. Max Landry, co-founder and co-CEO, and Kathy Abernethy, director of menopause services at Peppy, introduce Lee McNamara, group head of culture and internal communications, DFS.

People going through the menopause is the fastest growing demographic of people in the UK workforce.

“Walking into a warehouse full of men and going ‘let’s have a chat about the menopause’ – you get certain looks and people tend to shuffle off,” said McNamara. “We’re trying to have more and more conversations about this. And practice makes perfect – the more conversations you have, the easier it becomes.

“Wellbeing can’t be excluding and talking about the menopause is not an excluding thing, it’s inclusive. Even if I am not directly impacted by the menopause, [because of] the big relationships that I have in my life – my wife, my sister, my mum, my daughter – I’m going to be impacted that way.”