- Unaddressed menopause symptoms are costly. The estimated annual cost of lost work due to menopause-related symptoms is $1.8 billion.
- Offering menopause benefits is a good business move. It can help reduce the likelihood of losing seasoned employees who bring years of experience and are expensive to replace.
- Benefit packages can vary. Potential benefits include leave, employee resource and support groups, fertility treatments and mental health care, desk fans, flexible work options and more.
The estimated annual nationwide cost in lost working time due to menopause is $1.8 billion — the sum of missed work or reduced hours due to the hot flashes, emotional changes, pain, reduced energy and other symptoms caused by menopause.
In some cases, when they don't find adequate support in the workplace, employees going through menopause leave their jobs or are laid off. A small but growing total rewards trend is looking to combat that issue.
About 4% of companies currently offer some form of menopause benefits, but a third of companies are open to implementing them in the next five years, according to a recent NFP survey.
And it's high time, said Maria Trapenasso, senior vice president and national practice leader for Human Capital Solutions with NFP, a benefits consulting business.
“These are the employees that are the pillars of the organization; they are invaluable to an organization's success,” she said. “They have wisdom, they have institutional insight, they're mentoring a lot of other employees, they lead by example. When you look at the cost of missed work and how it is impacting these women, it is one of the main reasons to offer this to employees.”
A Business Case for Menopause Benefits
Offering menopause benefits improves overall employee health outcomes, enhances talent value propositions and boosts employee retention, said Elaine-Marie Cannella, senior director of health and benefits for WTW. It also improves employee morale and well-being.
First, conduct an analysis of your current employees to see how many of them might use the benefits.
From there, you can calculate those individuals' salaries to determine the dollar cost of replacing them if they were to leave — keeping in mind that the cost of turnover for a leadership role can range from two to 10 times the person's salary, Trapenasso said. But the analysis should go beyond that.
“It's one thing to look at a number; it's another to look at a person,” Trapenasso said. “Who are these people? What contributions do they make to your workforce? Go to the C-suite: 'Mary is our head of finance. Jane is our COO. These are people we can't afford to lose.'”
Industries that are more heavily dominated by women, such as nursing, social work, home health care, therapy and speech pathology, will see a higher return on investment from these benefits. But menopause benefits have a place in all companies, advocates concur.
“While holistic and longitudinal family health should be considered for the entire workforce, a predominantly female-based demographic would benefit from a supportive program that addresses both family building and reproductive aging of a woman,” Cannella said.
Since almost all employers have women of menopause age within their leadership teams, “It's going to be really important for all employers to look at this and consider it,” Trapenasso added.
Implementing these benefits may also affect recruitment and retention among younger Gen Z and Millennial employees, who place a greater emphasis on company culture and overall benefit offerings.
“They definitely want benefits,” Trapenasso said. “They want wellness and mental health. And, down the road, menopause benefits will help them, But they also want to see that their employer cares about the other employees as well.”
How to Implement Menopause Benefits
Companies starting to offer this benefit often provide about five menopause leave days on top of the existing leave structure, to be used as needed throughout the year without a payout or rollover, Trapenasso said.
She added that while the reasons for all leave is confidential, this type of leave in particular can be stigmatized.
“There is still negative stereotyping and stigma around menopause and what women experience,” Trapenasso said. “Employers are going to want to handle it very delicately.”
However, leave is only one component of a robust total rewards structure for employees going through menopause. Other benefits can include:
- Ensuring that hormone therapies, mental health services and coaching services are included in a health benefits package. Insufficient care can lead to additional medical problems and costs,
- Offering employee resource groups or employee support groups.
- Designating a workplace “champion” who offers confidential support, resources and a listening ear.
- Instituting changes in the office such as desk fans or spaces where employees can temporarily work free of distraction.
- Providing flexibility for employees to work from home on days when symptoms are worse.
Cannella pointed out that businesses should consider and offer these benefits as part of a larger benefits structure that covers a full life cycle: pre-conception; fertility, surrogacy; adoption; maternity and paternity; postpartum and caregiving; return-to-work; lactation support; and reproductive aging.
“It's time to shift the paradigm, similar to destigmatizing mental health,” Cannella said.
Effectively communicating the benefits is an important step, ensuring that they are understood and utilized, as well as normalizing the discussion and acknowledgment of menopause in the workplace, Trapenasso said.
“It's really important for employers to understand that women have been suffering with this for so long,” she said. “It's forward-thinking to support them and provide them with the tools they need to be productive at work.”
Editor's Note: Additional Content
For more information and resources related to this article see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics:
