Welcome back to another episode of HR Insights: The podcast. Today Stuart Elliott is joined by Fiona McKay, CEO and Founder of Lightbulb Leadership Solutions and sister company, The Menopause Maze. Fiona shares her personal and professional journey, highlighting her move from legal work to leadership consultancy and how her company focuses on helping female-led businesses scale, while The Menopause Maze, supports women navigating menopause.
Fiona delves into her own experience with early menopause, highlighting how it affected her both physically and mentally thus fuelling her passion to change the narrative around menopause in the workplace. Fiona discusses her advocation for open conversations and structural changes within organisations amidst alarming statistics about menopausal women and their struggles in employment. She mentions her involvement in campaigning for free HRT prescriptions in England and points out how menopause is now becoming a significant issue for businesses in terms of talent retention and ESG considerations.
Fiona emphasises the importance of creating a supportive environment for menopausal women, offering practical advice on how companies can address this issue, including conducting culture audits, providing anonymity in surveys, and offering customised employee benefits.
October is Menopause Awareness Month with World Menopause Awareness Day falling on October 18th. Please click here to see how you can get involved and support such an important cause.
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Key timestamps:
01:53 – Intro into Fiona
06:40 – Overview of the menopause and Fiona’s personal experience with early menopause
17:30 – Stats around the menopause in the workplace
21:30 – How HR can deal with the prevalence of menopause in the workplace
24:50 – Elevating the conversation
27:50 – Starting points for companies
37:50 – Importance of allyship to grow the conversation
41:30 – Socio-economic issues with menopause