Eva Essential Blog- Menopause and it’s impact on your financial wellness

There is no doubt that having to leave the workplace in your fifties or sixties will have a negative impact on pensions and retirement savings, writes Sarah Roughsedge

Empowering women to take charge of their own financial wellness and achieve financial goals is one of our main priorities for us at Eva Wealth. We know women can face a great deal of misinformation, lack of knowledge and external obstacles in achieving these goals, and menopause is no exception.

The ongoing conversation about menopause has highlighted the significant impact it can have on women’s mental well-being but how does it impact financial wellness?

If we haven’t already experienced some of these, we will have certainly all heard of the symptoms. The effect on a woman’s ability to concentrate, in addition to problems with memory and general mood can impact a woman’s confidence in the workplace. It is therefore no surprise that many women consider reducing their hours at work, passing up promotions or taking early retirement, when they encounter these debilitating symptoms.

According to a report by the UK Government (Menopause transition: effects on women’s economic participation) it can be expected that ‘up to 47% of the UK workforce – (i.e., all female workers – will experience menopause transition during their working lives.’

If this is the case then we need to consider the physical and psychological impact of the menopause and how these inevitably affect a woman’s performance in the workplace as well as her quality of working life. According to SimplyBusiness UK, more than one in four say they’ve lost earnings as a result of going through the menopause and their research found that nearly half of women business owners believe the government should provide better support for women going through perimenopause and menopause.

One of the hurdles facing menopausal women, is the lack of support or knowledge from management or colleagues in the workplace. According to the same government report ‘45% of managers were reported to have no knowledge of menopause-related problems in the workplace.’ This lack of knowledge will make women less likely to seek support and advice if they are struggling in their role.

And let’s not forget…This is against the backdrop of the gender gap being at its widest among women over 50!

When asked about discussing menopause in the workplace the government report showed various reasons why women felt they could not broach the subject at work.

67% did not want to discuss the menopause in case their line manager thought it may affect their performance and 35% simply felt embarrassed to discuss it.

An increase in training and information on the impact of the menopause could help to prevent women from reducing their hours or leaving work altogether at a time when their earnings and potential pension savings are at their highest. With women now working longer than ever, it is therefore detrimental to their goals and hard work if they feel the need to decrease their working hours, particularly if they have previously taken time off for maternity, parental care etc. This is especially true when it is due to circumstances beyond their control.

There is no doubt that having to leave the workplace in your fifties or sixties will have a negative impact on pensions and retirement savings.

It is therefore vital that employers take steps to ensure female employees feel safe to discuss this natural stage in their life, without the fear that it will threaten their position at work. The government rejected menopause as a ‘protected characteristic’ in 2023 advising that existing protected characteristics of sex, age and disability already provide this protection, so it is even more crucial that employers should normalise conversations as well as offering support and training. There should be guidance on which modifications can be made in order to help women continue to have an active role in their workplace. Simply put, if companies support women in the right way, they won’t have to leave work, and their pensions won’t be affected.

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