Nicola Green is a menopause consultant who, after over 20 years working in law, launched Nicola Green Consultancy in 2019 and now helps law firms and organisations address and support menopause in the workplace. Here, Nicola goes through the impact menopause has on women working in the law.
With menopausal women being the fastest growing demographic in the workplace and law firms often having a 75% demographic of female employees, it is imperative that this topic is no longer taboo.
Many do not realise the physical, psychological and emotional symptoms many will experience during the peri-menopausal and menopausal years. Women are often experiencing menopausal symptoms at the prime of their working career and symptoms such as brain fog and difficulty concentrating can lead to a lack of confidence, which often results in working additional hours, requesting demotion or even leaving that firm altogether.
My aim is to eradicate the taboo subject of menopause from the workplace and help remove the stigma around the perceived age of a menopausal woman.
We all need to be educated on this topic many years before symptoms start. If we know what to expect, we will be able to manage our lives so much better. We need to stop thinking this is just something that will happen in our 50s and understand peri-menopause symptoms can start much sooner.
I recently had the privilege of presenting to Aconveyancing, who understood the paramount importance of supporting their employees in this respect. The firm said:
“Aconveyancing is always looking for ways to improve the working experience for all employees. Regardless of gender or age, menopause will affect us all at some point, whether directly or indirectly. We knew the conversation around menopause was happening and of course we want to be a part of it, but we also considered what we’re actually doing to remove the stigma around menopause in our own workplace. After all, what’s the point of talking about something if you’re not prepared to do anything about it?
If we lose women in their forties and early fifties, it jeopardises opportunities for future female conveyancers.”
Aconveyancing have 50 staff across their four offices, and “95%” of their workforce is female.
“Many firms, including ours, have processes in place for maternity and bereavement leave but considering the employee ratio being highly tipped towards female, it’s only recently that conversations around menopause have started to happen – and we absolutely welcome them.
Menopause will affect everyone in our business at some point – whether directly or indirectly. Women who happen to be in their menopausal window are some of the most experienced, hardworking, powerful staff members in a team. In conveyancing, they bring a calm and wisdom to what can otherwise be a highly pressured work environment.
These important conversations around menopause are now coming to light and business leaders must do their best to empower these employees and support them with an empathetic approach. Open conversations around menopause in the office are crucial for the entire team to understand what it means to go through menopause and what we can all do to help when and if needed. The changes we make now will also positively impact our younger staff.”
In 2019, Nicola launched Nicola Green Consultancy and now helps organisations address and support menopause in the workplace, and works with many law firms who understand the benefits of educating and supporting all employees in order to reduce attrition and sick leave but increase productivity, loyalty and engagement.
