Employers Must Recognise Female Occupational Health Issues

British businesses must be more understanding of how the menopause affects female employees.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has published new guidelines demonstrating how employers and union representatives can support women employees through the menopause while working as part of International Women's Day.

Employers should recognise that the menopause is an important occupational health issue and adapt the workplace environment to ensure that menopausal symptoms are alleviated.

The menopause currently affects three and a half million women over the age of 50 in work and this number is likely to grow as the average age of British employees increases in the future.

Uncomfortable symptoms of the menopause can include hot flushes, headaches, tiredness, sweating, anxiety attacks and greater stress levels and this can impact on how effectively suffers can work.

Employers should provide their menopausal employees with comfortable workplace temperatures, good ventilation, toilet facilities and an access to cold drinking water as this will help alleviate their symptoms.

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, said that menopause must be treated as a workplace issue and menopausal women should not be criticised for taking time of work because of their symptoms.

He said: "There is no excuse for the silence, embarrassment, confusion and inaction around the menopause - something which all women go through.

"The health of women in later years depends very much on their health when they are working through the menopause, and this report shows employers and unions can work together to do much more to protect them."

Organisations who are unsure how to assist their female employees should call in the help of performance improvement consulting professionals as they will be able to provide valuable business expertise.

Employers who fail to provide their staff with appropriate support may be at risk of losing employment tribunals and this process is worrying the majority of British businesses, according to a new study.

Research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) revealed that two-thirds of employers claim they feel under protected against employees who make unjustifiable claims to tribunals.

CIPD findings discovered that over half of employers believe that the current law on unfair dismissal would benefit from being changed to make it easier to dismiss members of staff.

Employee relations adviser at the CIPD Mike Emmott claims that the existing tribunal system does not work and has called on the government to make changes.


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