A decade too late? The hidden costs of menopause

October 11, 2023

It’s no secret that not offering menopause support carries a high price tag for businesses. But our latest research shows that the potential costs of menopause to the UK economy could be even greater than we’d originally thought.

The UK Parliament’s ‘Menopause and the workplace’ report cites 14 million working days lost each year to menopause, which equates to £1.88 billion in lost productivity. 

Peppy’s recent research suggests that even this sizeable figure could be falling short of the real cost of menopause to businesses. 

To set the scene, let’s remind ourselves of some menopause facts:

Perimenopause:

  • Literal translation: “around menopause”. 
  • This is the time when a person’s body is making the transition to menopause, often accompanied by physical and emotional symptoms.
  • Usually begins in a woman’s 40s and lasts a number of years.

Menopause:

  • Literal translation: “end of monthly cycles”. 
  • This is the point of time 12 consecutive months after a person’s last period.
  • The average age of menopause is 51.

Postmenopause:

  • The time after menopause, when a person hasn’t experienced a period in over a year.
  • Some people continue to experience symptoms of menopause after this time. 

Symptoms of menopause include…

  • Hot flushes
  • Brain fog
  • Sleep problems and insomnia
  • Heart palpitations
  • Anxiety
  • Low energy
  • Low mood
  • Memory loss
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Joint aches
  • Headaches 
  • Vaginal dryness
  • Low libido
  • To name just a few

The cost of £1.88 billion per year to the UK economy is based on women aged between 50-64, on the basis that they spend on average 0.51 hours a week alleviating symptoms. 

Crucially though, a study of over 21,000 users on the Peppy app has shown that symptoms of support-seeking individuals between ages 40-49 are almost equally as severe and debilitating as symptoms of women aged 50+, and have just as detrimental an impact on productivity and taking time off sick.

If we assume the cost of menopause in the workplace for women aged 50-64 to be £1.88 billion and extend this out to include women age 40-64, adjusting the cost in line with the average symptom severity of support-seeking women by age group, we can estimate an additional £1.02 billion in lost productivity and time off sick due to menopause symptoms. 

This takes the total potential business cost of menopause and perimenopause to £2.9 billion per annum – the equivalent to 22 million working days lost, every year.

It begs the question: from government to employers, are we thinking about menopause a decade too late? 

Our research has also revealed that 70% of support-seeking employees say their performance at work has been negatively impacted by menopause symptoms. And, that regardless of age or stage of menopause, the more severe menopause symptoms are, the more impaired individuals feel their work is.

In summary, perimenopause symptoms experienced by support-seeking women aged 40-49 can be just as severe and debilitating as those experienced by women aged 50+. 

The good news for cost- and health-conscious businesses is that there is a solution: specialised menopause support has been shown to improve symptom severity dramatically in just 6 months. Plus, the more supported help-seeking employees feel, the less they think about reducing their working hours or quitting their jobs. 

Now is the time to support every employee who will face, has faced or is in the full throws of experiencing menopause. Offering inclusive, specialised support is a small price to pay to solve a potentially big problem.  

 

Original research by Health & Her Ltd., detailed by the UK Parliament ‘Menopause and the workplace’ report [MEW0054]; the submission explained that Censuswide on behalf of Health & Her surveyed 1000 women aged between 50 – 64 and calculated this on the basis of 0.51 hours in a week spent alleviating symptoms* 48 weeks in the year = 24.48 hours spent alleviating symptoms. 24.48 hours * 4,357,000 working women aged 50–64 in the UK (ONS) = 106,659,360 hours / 7.5 hours (working day) = 14,221,248 working days.

Workings by Peppy:

Our sample:

above 50 =  58.81%

below 49 = 41.19%

39 and below = 2.81%

40-49 = 38.38%. (

50-65 = 58.56%

>66 = 0.25%

MRS by age group

group: < 39

n        mean   sd

606      13.22  10.19

———————————————————————————————————–

group: >66

n        mean  sd

54       18.93  7.62

———————————————————————————————————–

group: 40-49

n         mean  sd

8266      16.8    7.58

———————————————————————————————————–

group: 50-65

n        mean  sd

12612    18.77  7.08I

Menopause
Women's Health

Expanding inclusion: Addressing the overlooked stories of women left behind

Achieving true inclusion isn’t about grand gestures; it’s about the little moments and the individual stories. It's listening to "THAT Woman" – you know, the one who’s brilliant but maybe a bit misunderstood or overlooked at work. We should be giving her the mic and making sure we're all ears.

Menopause

A decade too late? The hidden costs of menopause

Baby

Navigating silent grief: How employers can support employees through baby loss

Every year, an unsettling statistic resounds across the UK – at least 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage. This striking number implies a significant portion of your workforce has, or will, experience this traumatic event. Our new research, conducted by Censuswide in partnership with the British Infertility Counselling Association and Fertility Matters At Work, with over 1000 employees, delves deep into the subject, bringing to light the scale of the issue as we explore in this article. This is Baby Loss Awareness Week, there's no better time for employers to address and provide the needed support for this heart-wrenching loss.

Baby

How to help new parents return to work after parental leave

Navigating the transition back to work after parental leave is a journey filled with excitement, anxiety and a host of unexpected challenges. The real experience of returning to work is often more complex than policies and guidelines can capture. Here's an in-depth look at the unspoken realities and how employers can provide the support new parents truly need.

Fertility

The long road to PCOS diagnosis

Over 1 million people in the UK are living with undiagnosed polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). But is this just another period problem for women to learn to live with, or is the long and complex road to diagnosis something employers should be doing something about? 

Men's Health

Men matter: Addressing the impact of male fertility on business

From our school days, we're taught about the 'birds and the bees' with an unmistakable emphasis on female fertility, when in fact male-factor infertility makes up around 50% of all cases. In our modern age, it's astounding how this outdated narrative continues to dominate not just societal discourse, but also workplace health policies across the globe. It's time we rebalanced this equation. Men's fertility is an integral part of the reproductive story and needs equal attention and support.

Fertility

Miscarriage in the workplace – the do’s and don’ts

Experiencing a miscarriage is massively traumatic, both physically and emotionally, with long-term feelings of grief and loss. Whether you’re a close friend, family member, colleague or line manager, this is a difficult issue to tackle. But it needs to be tackled – with sensitivity.

Menopause

Why Businesses Can’t Afford NOT to Support Menopause