Co-op enhances menopause policy with new initiatives

Retailer Co-op is enhancing its menopause policy with a series of new initiatives, like launching a menopause support guide, to help more women and their colleagues across the country access support in the workplace with the menopause.

The guide, which has been created in partnership with unions Usdaw and Unite as well as its colleague networks, will help managers understand why supporting colleagues experiencing menopause is the right thing to do. 

Highlighting the impact menopause has on women in the workplace, a new study by Co-op with women across workplaces in the UK shows that almost two fifths (38 percent) of women with or who have had the menopause experienced increased anxiety at work and over a quarter (28 percent) say they felt depressed.

Whilst almost half (47 percent) of women employees say dedicated support for the menopause in the workplace should be made available for colleagues by their employer, the study by Co-op shows that the majority (95 percent) of managers working in businesses in the UK say they have never received official training on how to support perimenopausal colleagues and or those going through the menopause.

Helen Webb, Chief People & Services Officer at Co-op, said, “It’s time to stop viewing the physical and mental impacts felt by those experiencing the perimenopause and menopause as just a women’s issue and rather as a workplace issue that we all have a role in supporting.

“We need to work together across business, government and society to end the stigma, so that no one else faces this alone. That’s why we’re proud to release our dedicated menopause support guide for managers as well as becoming a Founding Partner with GenM and signing the Women in the Workplace pledge to go even further in making positive changes in the workplace.”