One million women changed or quit their jobs due to the menopause costing UK businesses £5billion

On Sep 1, 2022

A million women in the UK have had to change their jobs or quit working because of a lack of support while going through the menopause, with experts warning of a £5billion crisis facing businesses.

There are fears another million women will potentially take the same drastic decision in the next five years.

Employment and inclusion specialist Cynthia Davis has warned that the number of menopausal women leaving work has ‘spiralled.’

An estimated 13 million women are perimenopausal or menopausal in the UK – but only 5.8 million of them are thought to be in work (file image)

This exodus of experienced workers, at a time of record job vacancies, could have catastrophic consequences for the UK economy, she warned.

WHAT IS THE MENOPAUSE?

The menopause occurs when a woman stops having periods and can no longer fall pregnant naturally.

It is a natural part of ageing, which occurs in women between 45 and 55 years old.

However one in 100 women can experience menopause before the age of 40, which is known as premature menopause or premature ovarian insufficiency.

Symptoms often include hot flushes, night sweats, low mood, reduced sex drive, vaginal dryness, an increase in facial hair and difficulty sleeping.

According to NHS advice, symptoms can begin months or even years before your periods stop and last around four years after your last period.

Premature or early menopause can occur at any age, and in many cases, there’s no clear cause.

Source: NHS

The cost to employers of recruiting, hiring and training a new employee – and the loss of productivity when posts aren’t filled – equates to an average of £5,000 each time a woman leaves employment due to experiencing the menopause, she said.

That could mean a total cost of £5billion for everyone in the UK currently not working due to the menopause.

Recruitment firm CEO Ms Davis, who has spent months interviewing and polling current and former job candidates on issues around the menopause – now believes this is the single biggest unaddressed issue for British industry.

An estimated 13 million women are perimenopausal or menopausal in the UK – but only 5.8 million of them are thought to be in work.

Ms Davis estimates the number of women that have left the UK’s workforce entirely to be around 300,000 over the last five years alone – bringing the total to an estimated one million people who have had to change or quit their jobs as they felt unsupported or even discriminated against in the workplace.

And many more could follow over the next five years, she says.

Ms Davis, Founder and CEO of Diversifying Group, said: ‘From what I’ve seen during the last five years I would say that twenty per cent of working women who are going through the menopause have had to change jobs because they’ve felt discriminated against, let down by their employers or simply unable to cope.

‘That equates, at a conservative estimate, to around a million women who have switched jobs or stop working altogether in the UK.

‘The key to unlocking this talent is to offer more support and flexible working arrangements – that’s how this experienced group of professionals can be tempted back to work.’