New British Standard: menstruation, menstrual health and menopause in the workplace

Why is this needed?

According to the NHS, around 13 million people are estimated to be peri or menopausal in the UK. To put this into perspective, this is equivalent to a third of the entire UK female population. Despite this, and the ageing workforces we are now seeing, workers’ menstrual health and menopausal needs are often overlooked by employers. This oversight is shown by the Fawcett Society estimating that 10% of women experiencing menopause have left the workforce due to their symptoms, and the CIPD finding that three in five menopausal women were negatively affected at work. Such statistics, and the median cost of recruitment of employees being £1,500 (as according to the CIPD), demonstrates the issue that employers may face if they aren’t proactive.

Further to this, whilst the Government recently decided against making the menopause a standalone protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, employers should be aware that employees still have the right to not be discriminated against if they have one of more “protected characteristic”. The most common protected characteristics connected to the menopause are disability, if the symptoms satisfy the disability definition, and age and/or sex, if the employee is subject to unfavourable treatment due to such characteristics. Further to this, employers have a duty to manage their employees’ health, safety, and wellbeing both in the workplace and when working remotely. Employers are also at risk of breaching the implied term of trust and confidence, if they don’t take this workplace issue seriously.

In addition, there are a significant number of staff suffering with menstrual health conditions, such as endometriosis and polycystic ovaries. It is often a struggle for such staff to get a diagnosis and once diagnosed there can also be challenges accessing appropriate levels of medical support and treatment. Many employees feel that they have no option but to leave the workplace if they are not receiving the appropriate level of support from their employer.

The aim of the British Standard is to assist employers in understanding the steps they can take to support the welfare of employees experiencing symptoms as a result of menstrual health and/or menopause.

What is the guidance?

The BS 30416 guidance came into effect on 31 May 2023, and has been carefully constructed with input from a range of highly regarded sources. Such sources range from global organisations, such as BT, to the University of St. Andrews, Acas and UNISON. Whilst the guidance is not legally binding, it provides employees with a standard for reference to rely upon, and employers with a standard to aspire to and maintain.

We have outlined some of the key guidance and recommendations below:

Exposure of misconceptions

The guidance helpfully highlights many misconceptions associated with menstrual health and the menopause. This is key to educate employers and raise awareness of the truth around menstrual health and the menopause. According to the guidance, one misconception is that all employees’ experiences of menstruation and the menopause are the same. However, the guidance sets this straight by providing examples of how characteristics such as, race, ethnicity, religion, mental health, sexual orientation, neurodivergence, socio-economic status, job roles, pay levels, and gender identity can influence experiences of menstrual health and the menopause.

Another misconception highlighted by the guidance is that the menopause only impacts women above the age of 45. Again, the guidance makes it clear that whilst the majority of employees may be over this age bracket, employers should be aware that it can affect a large range of employees such as those who are transgender, non-binary and gender fluid.

One of the other myths is that menopause is much worse than menstruation and that no support is required for menstruation. Of course, a great deal has been done in recent years to raise more awareness of menopause but more needs to be done to raise awareness of other menstrual health conditions as they can be significant and, in some cases, completely debilitating.

Implementation of policies

In 2019, the CIPD found that fewer than 1 in 10 employers had a policy or guidance relating to the menopause available to employees. The guidance highlights how essential it is for employers to be proactive, not reactive and have appropriate policies which cover menstrual health and the menopause available for employees to refer to. The benefits of such policies are that they enable a fair and consistent approach to such topics across the workforce.

Further to this, policies provide support to managers, by setting out a framework they can follow, and can help encourage the implementation of training on such topics. In turn, they should help raise awareness within the wider workforce on important issues. The guidance suggests that when implementing such policies, the representative workforce should be consulted appropriately, whilst maintaining their confidentiality.

Reasonable adjustments

Adjustments are key for employers to create a culture which is supportive of menstrual health and the menopause. The guidance goes into detail in providing practical advice on what role adjustments could be made in different workforces/job roles. Some of the job roles, and adjustments suggested are as follows:

• Mobile/physical roles – limit time wearing PPE, allow sufficient breaks and privacy, alter schedules and review risk assessment;
• Static roles – adjust uniforms, offer temporary shift changes, provide flexibility in the timing of breaks, allow for the adjustment of light;
• Highly physical roles – check if PPE is the appropriate size, offer lockers, the flexibility to take extra breaks, and provide comfortable working breaks; and
• Public facing roles – provide options for part-time working, review scheduling considerations, provide recording devices and explore options for job sharing.

The recruitment process

The recruitment process is often overlooked by employers, with the focus often on dealing with employees already in the workplace. However, the BSI guidance provides the following advice to employers when recruiting:

• Amend the job description and/or design – consider the words used in the job description, and the role itself;
• Assessments – think about whether the method of assessment is fair to all groups, consider if online testing or lengthy assessments are necessary, the space used, and the potential bias within assessments;
• Interviews – know what steps can be taken to prevent candidates from being disadvantaged, and provide reasonable adjustments; and
• Successful applicants – inductions should cover health and wellbeing and explain what support is available.

A link to the  guidance can be found here.

Looking ahead

As outlined above, the guidance alone is not sufficient to fix the problems around menstrual health and the menopause in the workplace. There is a long way to go in order to break the stigma around this topic, but it is hoped that the BSI guidance will prove a useful tool for employers, by providing practical guidance that can be translated and implemented into the workplace. In turn, this should help to bring menstrual health and the menopause out of the shadows and to the forefront of employers’ thoughts, sparking the change needed.