With new menopause reporting requirements on the horizon and research showing most UK employers are still unprepared, one facilities management business is already putting practice ahead of policy.
PTSG has launched a comprehensive menopause support framework for its workforce, comprising two dedicated action plans – one setting out the company’s organisational commitments and a second designed to guide practical, one-to-one conversations between line managers and individual employees. The documents, both held within PTSG’s health and wellbeing information hub, are available to all employees across the business.
The individual plan provides line managers with a structured framework for tailored, confidential discussions about the wide range of symptoms employees may experience – a range that, as The Menopause Charity highlights, extends to 140 different symptoms, with no two women’s experience the same. Practical adjustments available to employees include flexible start and finish times, working from home on days with severe symptoms, ergonomic equipment and access to counselling and employee assistance services. HR involvement is built into the process from the outset.
The organisational plan maps PTSG’s broader commitments across eight areas: health assessment, GP and occupational health access, mental health support, flexible working policies, physical workplace adjustments, manager training, communication and legal compliance – including reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.
Terry Wilcock, Health and Wellbeing Director at PTSG, said: “Menopause is a health and safety issue as much as it is a wellbeing one, and it is our responsibility as an employer to ensure that every member of our workforce feels supported and valued. These action plans give our managers and our people the tools to have the right conversations and put the right support in place and that matters enormously in an industry that we are actively working to make more diverse and welcoming for women.”
The framework builds on momentum from the PTSG People initiative, which last year hosted an FM Women event in partnership with Sodexo and FM Business Daily, at which menopause in the workplace featured as a central theme. The plans complement PTSG’s existing network of Mental Health First Aiders, alongside newly appointed Menopause Champions whose role is to provide peer-level support and help break down the stigma that research consistently identifies as a barrier to employees seeking help.
That stigma remains widespread. According to a Catalyst global survey of almost 2,900 employees, 72% have hidden their menopause symptoms at work at least once, and one in three have not told anyone at work about their symptoms at all. Meanwhile, only 24% of organisations currently have a stated menopause policy or support measures in place – a figure that sits uneasily alongside the Government’s own data showing that over half of women in employment have been unable to go into work at some point due to their symptoms.
For facilities management businesses in particular, where operational demands, site-based working and historically male-dominated cultures can compound these challenges, the case for proactive support is acute. Meaningful action plans must extend beyond policy documents to address the physical environment – ventilation, temperature, rest facilities – as well as organisational culture and management capability. PTSG’s dual-plan approach does exactly that.
As PTSG continues to actively encourage women to join the organisation, its menopause framework sends a clear signal: that the business is committed to supporting women not just at the point of recruitment, but throughout every stage of their careers.
