How to support an employee experiencing menopause

Menopause is not itself a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. However, if an employee is treated unfavourably because of menopause symptoms, this can amount to discrimination connected to sex, age, or — where symptoms have a long-term and substantial impact on day-to-day activities — disability. Employers also have a general health and safety duty to assess and manage workplace risks, including for menopause.

Where menopause symptoms meet the legal definition of a disability — a physical or mental impairment with a substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities — you are under a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments. This is not automatic for every case; each situation should be assessed individually, ideally with medical or occupational health input where appropriate.

Train managers on the nature of menopause symptoms, how to have a supportive conversation, and how organisational policies relate to menopause. Make clear that menopause affects not only cisgender women but also some trans, non-binary, and intersex people — support should be available to everyone who needs it, and conversations should stay confidential.

Invite the employee to talk privately about how menopause is affecting them at work and what might help. Keep the tone supportive rather than clinical. Ask open questions, listen, and avoid pressing for more medical detail than the employee wants to share.

As part of your general health and safety duties, assess whether anything in the work environment could be making symptoms worse — for example uniform material and fit, workplace temperature and ventilation, access to cold drinking water, and whether there's somewhere suitable to rest if needed. Review risk assessments regularly, including for employees working from home.

Common adjustments include flexibility over start and finish times, control over the immediate working environment (such as a desk near a window that opens, or a fan), access to cold water, and a private space to rest if needed. If a longer-term change to hours, duties, or location would help, the employee can also make a flexible working request through the standard statutory process.

Where an employee is off sick because of menopause, record this separately from other sickness absence. Measuring it as part of a general attendance record or an absence-trigger policy (such as a Bradford Factor score) can be unfair or discriminatory, since it may unintentionally penalise a protected health matter.

Once adjustments are agreed, confirm them in writing and give the employee a reasonable amount of time to see whether they help. Have a follow-up conversation to check the changes are working for both the employee and the business, and be prepared to revisit them as symptoms change over time.

Employers with 250 or more employees can voluntarily publish a Menopause and Gender Pay Gap Equality Action Plan from April 2026, with this becoming mandatory from 2027. Even if you're a smaller employer not directly in scope, building good menopause practice now — a clear policy, trained managers, and a documented, individual approach — puts you ahead of where the law is heading.