COVID may have been a catalyst for
Helena Pagano, chief people and culture officer at global financial services company Sun Life, has spent the past several years closing major gaps in
"How can we help women thrive at a stage of their career that should be the peak of what they're going to achieve, and their highest earning years?" Pagano says. "Open the dialogue. [Make it clear menopause is] a health topic we care about supporting."
According to a survey from fertility and women's health platform Carrot, 80% of women cite menopause as a workplace challenge and less than 20% were aware of symptoms before they began. Research from the Mayo Clinic shows the economic loss of missed work due to menopause to be $1.8 billion, skyrocketing to $26.6 billion when adding in related medical costs.
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At Sun Life, Pagano involved leaders and employee resource groups (ERGs) to create a safe space for conversation and reduce stigma. Then it was on to evaluating benefits: Sun Life offers all of its employees paid leave, a hybrid work schedule and employee assistance programs — all things that can support women managing menopausal symptoms, which can include fatigue, depression, anxiety, hot flashes and night sweats, trouble sleeping and focusing, and more.
This year, the company added a specific menopause benefit for U.S. employees by expanding its partnership with family-building and fertility platform Progyny, giving its workforce access to health professionals trained to support and treat women leading up to, during and after menopause.
"Our employee-base in the U.S. is nearly 70% women, so menopause is something that will impact a large portion of our employee population," says Tammi Wortham, senior vice president of HR at Sun Life U.S. "This benefit offers personalized care and access to menopause experts, to help women navigate this challenging and sometimes distressing time in life. Our employees — and their partners or spouses — will experience better health and wellness while staying present and productive at work."
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Building a menopause support system
As benefits managers consider how to implement or add to their own menopause support system, all efforts should revolve around creating an inclusive environment, says Pagano. With that in mind, she advises utilizing free resources such as the
"What are you providing in terms of coverage? How are you thinking about flexible work?" she says. "Work doesn't have to be face-to-face all the time; if I'm experiencing particular symptoms, can I work from home instead of having to come into the office?"
Another necessity is to make information about perimenopause, menopause and postmenopause available to everyone — not just women already in these stages, notes Pagano. Regardless of what a workforce looks like, the symptoms of and ways to support women going through these transitions can impact employees themselves, loved ones or coworkers, and need to be open for discussion. Being informed also makes people smarter consumers in terms of their healthcare, Pagano points out.
"I have people stopping me of all ages — young women say, 'I didn't know this was coming; I thought my health journey was over once I had a baby. Thank you for sharing this information,'" she says. "[And] I've had men come to me and say, 'That was greatly insightful. I went home and had a conversation with my wife.'"
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Sun Life is setting an example outside of their workplace as well: It was the first organization to sign onto the
To see the best results, Pagano recommends leaders approach this area of women's health with "intentionality and courage," with the goal of erasing its common dismissal as a taboo topic. At the end of the day, it's just health, she says.
"It's in the spirit of, 'What do people need?' and aligning your program [with that]," Pagano says. "And I am certain this is a great, untapped need, [with] great untapped potential. I can see that by the response we have gotten to this topic."
