An online menopause clinic built for workplaces, loved by employees

Many women rise into senior leadership positions in their 40s or 50s, just when perimenopause, the transition into menopause, generally occurs. Menopause symptoms start just as they might be stepping up and earning at their highest potential. It can feel like their body is betraying them.

Menopause is not something that happens in midlife, it can happen much earlier. Some can experience early menopause and induced or surgical menopause due to treatment.

There are more than 40 menopause symptoms that can be difficult to pinpoint, change all the time and are unique to each individual. They can be physical, such as hot flushes, joint pain, urinary incontinence and heavy periods. They can also be mental with anxiety, depression, bouts of low confidence and difficulty sleeping. Imagine 10 years of difficulty with sleeping? No one knows what to expect as menopause differs from person to person. But make no mistake, menopause symptoms are significant.

A day in the life of someone with menopause symptoms could involve dealing with a sudden hot flush, rushing to the loo to mop up sweat and boiling while everyone else is freezing. They might want to skip a meeting or send someone else because a wave of anxiety makes them feel overwhelmed. Or it could be they want to work from home because very heavy periods have made it virtually impossible to move far.

More than 50% are too scared to talk about menopause at work. Menopause has historically been a taboo topic spoken about in hushed tones – if at all. The symptoms are tough enough without having to manage them in secret.

A study by Vodafone found that 60% of women said menopause symptoms impacted their work. Another study in the UK found that 30% of women missed work because of menopause symptoms.

Menopause can negatively impact careers and 11% of women didn’t take up a promotion and 8% resigned because of menopausal symptoms.

What does it mean for your workplace? It means a significant loss of senior talent, difficulty increasing gender diversity, increased absenteeism and a loss of productivity. And yet, supportive treatment is comparatively cost-effective.

Representation matters and supporting senior employees to stay in your company means younger staff have inspirational role models.

While you are considering getting serious about menopause, there are some simple changes to the physical setup of offices, resetting expectations around work culture and updating health care policies that can make a difference.

1. Offices

Open-plan offices are a disaster for controlling the temperature and privacy when you’re having a hot flush or need a moment to regroup. Changing the entire floor plan overnight is a bit of an ask but a private break-out room, desk fans, period products in the loo and letting people move away from radiators or hot sun can help.

If there are uniforms at your workplace, use a thinner fabric, making it more breathable or even sweat-wicking can make a huge difference to comfort, as well as having a few extra around, if a quick change is required during the day.

2. Culture

Pretending the natural process of ageing doesn’t exist is a complete waste of time. Bring the discussion right into the workplace and include menopause within existing training on things like diversity and inclusion, anti-harassment, mental health or parental leave. Invite all genders and ages to understand menopause, so people can learn how to be supportive.

3. Policy

When symptoms are out of control, normalise staff asking for more frequent breaks or pausing while having a hot flush. Leniency from an office around scheduling or more frequent breaks will make a huge difference in retention.

Including menopause within the healthcare provision helps give the support and education needed to manage menopause without guilt, shame and embarrassment. Private healthcare is not enough on its own as someone with menopausal symptoms may need to see a gynaecologist, endocrinologist, pelvic floor physio or therapist – which can be complex and time-consuming. Stella has all the information and support needed on-demand and in one place.

We offer two packages:

1. Stella menopause support app

For those who do not want hormonal menopause treatments, such as HRT, or need a non-hormonal option, we’ve developed a lifestyle and behaviour change app specifically for menopause. It is designed to support anyone coping with menopausal symptoms, whether they are on HRT or not.

Stella offers personalised plans and support from trained experts to manage an employee’s specific menopause symptoms. They can include sleep disturbance, mood changes, overwhelm, brain fog, weight gain, hot flushes and sweats, low libido and bladder leaks, plus much more.

Stella uses clinically proven cognitive behavioural therapy, pelvic floor physiotherapy, mindfulness and stress management techniques. They help your employees make long-term lifestyle changes across sleep, stress management, nutrition and exercise to find relief.

Each session introduces a new topic related to specific symptoms using a mix of interactive and video-guided exercises, techniques and habits. Plans are flexible to adapt to changing or new symptoms.

Also inside the app:

• Ongoing support from real coaches with the ability to decide how much interaction is needed to reach goals
• Mindfulness for menopause with guided meditation and soundscapes to boost focus and energy, plus help relaxation and sleep
• Hundreds of articles on menopause and symptoms, interviews sharing other menopause journeys, exercise videos and recipe inspiration with menopause-friendly foods
• An active community of like-minded people
• Regular online events with experts on menopause symptoms and experiences

Available from the Apple App Store or Google Play. We provide a code to input at sign-up so it’s free at the point of service. We are also available on several major benefits platforms, such as BenefitHub, Betterspace, Heka and YuLife.

2. Personalised treatment recommendations

Stella offers personalised menopause care following an in-depth online assessment that provides treatment options to manage an individual’s specific menopause symptoms according to their medical history, lifestyle and preferences.

This could include HRT as well as lifestyle change advice with the Stella app. Online appointments with doctors can be booked to discuss options. HRT is delivered within three days. The first prescription is always for three months and there is a three-month review to see how it’s going.

This includes free access to the Stella menopause support app, including its resources, community and online events.