For too long, menopause at work has been framed as a personal issue—something women should quietly manage alongside deadlines, leadership expectations, and caregiving responsibilities. But the reality is far bigger and far more costly.
The quiet cost of untreated menopause isn’t just discomfort or inconvenience. It’s stalled careers, lost institutional knowledge, and billions in lost productivity. Research shows that around 10% of women leave the workforce due to unmanaged menopausal symptoms—a talent drain most organisations simply can’t afford.
In HRchat episode 873 conversation, I spoke with Dr Woganee Filate, a respirologist, sleep medicine physician, and co-founder of Loom, about what really happens when midlife women are expected to perform at a high level while navigating brain fog, hot flashes, heavy bleeding, mood changes, and chronic sleep disruption.
What emerged was both confronting—and hopeful.
Menopause is a workplace issue, not a private struggle
Midlife women are often at the height of their careers: senior contributors, leaders, mentors, and culture carriers. Yet many are doing this work while running on broken sleep, fighting cognitive fatigue, or managing unpredictable symptoms in environments not designed with them in mind.
Dr Filate was clear: menopause isn’t a single moment—it’s a multi-year transition that intersects directly with performance, confidence, and retention. When organisations stay silent, women don’t just suffer quietly; they disengage, downshift, or leave.
A modern care model that treats women as whole people
One of the most powerful parts of our conversation was how quickly the narrative shifted from “this is complicated” to “this is solvable.”
Dr Filate outlined evidence-based options that many women—and employers—still don’t realise are available:
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Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) when appropriate
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New non-hormonal medications that target the brain’s heat-regulation centre
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Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to reduce the distress of hot flashes
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Sleep strategies that restore focus, energy, and decision-making capacity
These are not fringe solutions. They’re grounded in science—and they work.
Small workplace changes, big impact
Perhaps most striking is how low-cost and practical many effective workplace accommodations are:
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Desk fans and temperature control
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Stocked menstrual products
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Fabric-aware uniforms or dress codes
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Quiet rooms and protected breaks
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Flexible working arrangements
Layer in education for all employees, not just women, and stigma begins to fall away. Add formal menopause policies and clearly identified internal champions, and help-seeking becomes safer and clearer.
This isn’t about special treatment—it’s about smart, human leadership.
Why menopause support is a long-term performance strategy
Zooming out, Dr Filate connected menopause care to broader organisational outcomes. Heart disease, dementia risk, osteoporosis, and mental health challenges build over decades. Early attention to sleep, nutrition, and mental wellbeing isn’t just compassionate—it pays dividends across every role and every season of work.
She also shared her own mid-career leap into entrepreneurship, a powerful reminder that purpose and support are retention strategies. When organisations choose support over silence, they don’t just keep talent—they unlock it.
If you lead people, manage benefits, or care about sustaining high performance over the long term, this conversation offers both the framework and the first steps.
The question now is simple: what one change will you make today?