Channel 4 menopause policy

Agreed, Hetty58. All that is being suggested is reasonable adjustments. What can people possibly have against that?

Oh really Smileless? When that happened to me I went home ‘sick’ after I had to explain quietly to my boss why I wasn’t able to attend our departmental meeting later that morning. I had to change my trousers and underwear when I got home (fortunately the blood did come out) and I scrubbed my office chair the next day when I returned to work. I’m now on HRT so no longer get the horrible sweats.

No 999 call was required.

Alot of compassion and understanding on this forum. No one as I understand it is asking for special treatment. It just for reasonable adjustment. Im assuming if you needed some support it would be arranged through your line manager, no one need know. Its a true saying, there is no one harder on women than other women. Very true on here.

You have my sympathy, Sir Chenjin. My last job was as a lecturer, which obviously entailed being in front of students for hours at a time. During menopause, when I had flooding, it was horrible. It's really hard to concentrate when you are worrying about something like that, and however much 'protection' was in place, my mind was never at rest.

So many women have to go through this sort of thing, and I see no reason at all why they should be considered to be 'taking advantage'. The humiliation would have been awful.

TBH, I don't know what adjustments could have been made in my job; but in many occupations, they could, and it would make all the difference. At least I had a certain amount of control over the temperature, as I had my own office, and could open the windows and turn off the radiators; but during lectures, it was very difficult sometimes.

People in call centres, for instance, often have to have timed loo breaks, and in open plan offices, it is often the people who have been there longest who get the window seats. That sort of thing would cost nothing to put right, but could make work bearable for women. After all, the menopause is only at it's peak (for most of us) for a couple of years, which is very little out of a working life.

What an absolutely ridiculous suggestion Smileless. My employer would have been ringing 999 every couple of weeks. You obviously haven't tried standing in front of 30 teenagers, knowing that blood has begun to trickle down your legs, despite wearing two extra thick sanitary pads, and feeling so shaky and sweating profusely that you can't think and speak properly.

Women in that situation don't need to waste ambulance time.

(Sorry if that's too graphic for some!)

I think you know what I mean Doodledog.

So much for the so-called sisterhood - women smugly proclaiming that THEY got through the menopause without any assistance so no other woman should get any! Some women have awful symptoms and some have none at all - help should be available for the former group without being embarrassed raising the subject! I'm on the fringe of menopause myself and I would hope the people around me would not be so dismissive as some of you have been. Not every woman can take HRT, which solves many problems, due to other health issues. Employers need to be aware of this and support women who need it through the menopause. Or should it still be a taboo subject, as it used to be, with women just suffering in silence? Why is it that some women do not wish other women to get support - just because it wasn't available when they went through the menopause? As with disability/sickness claims, the number of women "putting it on" would be tiny and well worth instigating workplace policies to help women who really need it.

I am sorry to say this but the only adjustments I can see many employers making to accommodate menopausal women is not to employ them in the first place. Given so many women in that age group are often made redundant or unemployed and find it hard to get jobs, this seems to me to be yet another obstacle in their way.

Employers will think " fifty odd .... menopause..... no thanks , get someone else. They wont say that of course.

It might also be a means of putting pressure on women to take early retirement/ redundancy for the "efficiency of the business" is the term oft quoted. Not a good move at a time when women are being made to wait longer for their pensions.

Dont get me wrong. I am having an awful time but I would never tell my employer. That would be scrap heap list at first mention.

That’s so sad that you work for an organisation that treats women that way.

Of course, the good employers will take the same progressive approach for this non-compulsory policy enactment they take for maternity, paternity, sickness, flexible working and so on and will make whatever reasonable adjustments they can in order to keep attract and keep experienced staff, and their reputation for being that type of employer will mean people will want to work for them.

They treat men and women equally where I work. You cannot ask for equality and them demand special consideration afterwards.

This is not special treatment, this is a reasonable adjustment in line with business need, just as with every other policy that organisations have.

Business needs people who are reliable, productive and can be there as required. It does not need females who need to attend the bathroom every twenty minutes. So you have a hottie on? Live with it, work through it and get on with your job. I suffer myself but this kind of consideration has no place in business. I am not going to say I think it does. You cant hack it, let someone else have the job. Thats what economics and the workplace is about.

You might want to read the C4 policy and others before coming out with such ill informed claims about what it actually means.

Interestingly, the most successful businesses in today’s world take a more proactive approach to attracting and maintaining good employees.

Quite, @aprilrose.

I think people underestimate how much casual ageism is out there. It's hard enough being a woman of a certain age without attracting even more attention to it. You're already seen as over the hill/unable to learn new stuff/ stuck in the past etc.

You know these policies are not legal frameworks and are there in case women want them, just as with other organisational policies? If a woman of ‘a certain age’ doesn’t want to use it she doesn’t have to.

I'm guessing aprilrose doesn't actually have the kind of job which requires responsible decisions. She certainly doesn't appear to know anything about good employment practice, especially as her posts would suggest she is rather confrontational.

Maybe one of the reasons women "of a certain age" are seen as not performing well is because they're trying to cover up the fact that they're really not feeling well. I tried very hard to cope when I was feeling like shit, but I knew very well that I wasn't doing my job as well as I could have done. It would have been better for all concerned if I could have been honest and cut a little slack, when needed. Women aren't just employed for the few years they go through the menopause, but for life. If they are good, there should be a way of retaining them.

Confrontation is what my job very often requires me to do. That is what I am paid for. Its not an easy job by any means. Its not one without responsibility either.

I see a lot of people trying to blag, or lie or pull the wool over my eyes ( no I do not work in insurance by the way) and I have to make sure such people understand that I am not taken in and will not be played for a fool.

Its not a nice job. It makes me a rather hard person I suppose. I have to learn to be that. But it does mean I often understand how other hard headed people may think , especially employers.

Yes, I didn’t think it would be a nice job for your posts.

Fortunately so many employers take a more progressive, supportive approach to developing staff policies as it’s well known that happy staff are more productive.

From your posts

Not only do I not want to live in the same place as you, but I sincerely hope that nobody I know has the misfortune to land a job in your company.

What a company has to be seen to do, and what they actually do are often poles apart, I've found.
As long as the paperwork is in order and all looks well, bullying, inequality etc still go on as much as they ever did.

MissAdventure I know and it's not that difficult to see how that happens when reading some of the posts on here.

Hi I'm new on here. Can anyone point me in the right direction for post hysterectomy hrt issues please, was on estrogen only but been introduced to combination pill even though I have no ovaries or uterus ( I do have small piece of cervix left behind). I have been told new regulations do can't take one without the other Feeling distraught with the experience. This is my third lot of get and feel like a wired zombie. Thanks in advance.

Hello Jacqueq
Sorry you're having such a bad time.

If you click on the 'forums' heading, you can find the one for health (or just chat would be fine)
Click on 'add discussion' and make a new thread.

Hope that helps. I'm not very good at explaining.