Assess how feeling career stuck is impacting you across ten areas of life - in 30 minutes. Then, decide what you want to do about it.

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When I was growing up in Northern Ireland, women would whisper the phrase, “the change”, when talking about perimenopause and menopause. 

Thank goodness the conversation has evolved since then.  Yet, until very recently, no one was talking about how it impacts our joy at work.

Today we delve into the impact of perimenopause and menopause on women in the workplace with leadership expert Sinead Sharkey-Steenson. We discuss the physical, emotional, and mental challenges women face and how these can manifest in professional settings. 

Sinead shares practical advice on recognizing symptoms, the importance of medical consultation, and stress management techniques. She also highlights organizational strategies to support female employees through awareness sessions, flexible working conditions, and open conversations. She gives actionable steps for individuals to reduce workplace stress, such as setting boundaries, recharging energy, and practicing focused breathing.

[00:00] Introduction: Breaking the Silence on Menopause

[00:26] Meet Sinead Sharkey-Steenson

[00:58] Understanding How Menopause Impacts Women in the Workplace

[01:53] Emotional and Mental Challenges

[03:49] Physical Symptoms and Stigma

[04:49] Organizational Support and Awareness of Menopause

[08:00] Practical Tips for Individuals

[09:05] The Three B's: Boundaries, Battery, and Breath

When I was growing up in Northern Ireland, women would whisper

the phrase, the change, when talking about perimenopause and menopause.

Thank goodness the conversation has evolved since then.

Half of our workforce experience symptoms that bring around unusual

levels of stress to our work.

Yet, until very recently, no one was talking about how

it impacts our joy at work.

Our next guest, Sinead Sharkey-Steenson, focuses on leadership success

with women in business and sport.

She's also the co founder of one of Ireland's largest business

conferences, Impact Players.

When you see how she brings laughter, compassion, deep personal

knowledge, and scientific research to companies on how to reduce the

stress that relates specifically to perimenopause and menopause, I think

you'll like her as much as I do.

Let's dive in.

Sinead, what kind of impacts do you see in the workplace that can be attributed

to either perimenopause or menopause?

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: I would group these into three areas.

So the physical, emotional, and the mental impact.

And I think the physical ones are the ones that tell us that

it's perimenopause or menopause.

But one of the big problems that many women have is we've only heard the word

perimenopause in the last couple of years and nobody knew it was a thing, nobody was

expecting it to be a thing and so they're taken completely unawares by suddenly

everything feels like it's shifted in their life and what the hell is going on.

So I might start with the more mental and emotional, and then come back to

the physical, which we know more about.

So what I noticed is it probably shows up at work for you before

you know what's going on.

So it shows up as you forgetting somebody's name that you know, like your

own mother, it shows up as you feeling anxious doing something you've always

done and you know you're brilliant at.

So it could be suddenly you're anxious about running a meeting that

you could do standing on your head.

You're anxious about driving is a real indicator especially at night.

Confidence taking a hit.

A lot of women are riding at the highest point of their careers and suddenly

boom, it's like the rug's been whipped out from underneath them and what the

hell, how can I be feeling like this when I've just got this great promotion.

I know I can do this, but something is wrong.

So anxiety, confidence, those things.

Getting into really tough mood situations.

The emotional things then could be I like that mood.

Crying over stuff that you never thought like, uh, with an advert

can send you into a tailspin of despair or something like that.

And you're like, what is going on with me?

Anger.

Yes.

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: I experienced rage, so frustration

at people that you never expected.

And that can show up at work, like suddenly you've, you

just got no time for people.

What is wrong with you?

Get that done.

And it can show up like that.

And then we've heard of the physical stuff.

And these are the things that can be really debilitating and could

cause a lot of stigma at work.

And so things like the hot flashes, such a rubbish name.

You could be drowned in sweat in a heartbeat, imagine doing that while

you're doing a big presentation.

Could be palpitations, itchy skin there's all kinds of physical symptoms.

And it's often only when we get the common ones, the known menopause

ones that we know what's going on.

So I always say to people, pay attention.

If you're feeling shifts in, in life, how you're feeling suddenly going

from coping quite well to not coping.

Hello.

Maybe look at it.

Fabulous.

So write down what you're experiencing.

Just get it out

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: or Write it down.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So let's shift a little bit to organizations.

What can organizations or companies do to understand more about the

difference between general workplace stress and then workplace stress that's

related to perimenopause or menopause?

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: The thing we all need to recognize is stress makes it all

worse, just like it does with anything.

And so what do workplaces need to know?

They need to be aware so that this is something that happens to women.

I can happen at any age.

It's not post puberty.

Somebody can experience this at any age.

It's most common perimenopause will hit early 40s and menopause

itself will happen early 50s.

There's a lot of shift in that.

Women are often at their stress sandwich point of life, most responsibility at

work, children, aging parents, aging life all becoming a bit more tricky

. And so all of these things can hit at one time and suddenly it

can feel like the wheels come off.

So traditionally what happened even in the NHS is women would have been managed for

stress and lo and behold, it didn't work.

Yes.

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: and so you can't really say to an employee.

Do you think you might be perimenopausal because that's not going to go down.

What you can do is do awareness sessions in your organization,

have support systems in place.

You can talk to people, ask them what's going on, is there ways that we can help?

And actually quite often what is needed, the accommodations, the support, will

work whether it's perimenopause or not.

Like saying, would it be worth having a chat with your GP if

you're experiencing a lot of stress?

Would a bit of hybrid working help right now?

So opening up conversations and offering some more

flexibility or just being supportive.

Lovely.

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: Be supportive and being like, how

can I be a great employer here?

This person is brilliant.

I don't want them to walk out the door.

And this is the kicker so many women walk out of the door at this point in life.

They might not know they're perimenopausal.

They might not know what's going on and they might not know why they're leaving.

But you can be there to say, okay, it feels like there's a bit

of struggle going on right now.

How can we help?

What's going to work for you?

And presumably you want to keep this fantastic person.

We all go through bad stages in life.

Home stuff, health stuff, life stuff, it impacts us all.

And so this is one of those things that's going to impact at least

50 percent of the population.

so let's go more practical now.

Let's go back to the individual.

So if a listener feels that their very natural symptoms of

perimenopause or menopause are negatively impacting them at work.

What can they do practically to reduce their stress at work this week?

Where do they start?

Sinead Sharkey-Steenson: Okay.

And I love that you said to reduce your stress because that

is going to make everything worse.

So there's five things to look at.

But the last one, the fifth, the net one after is the most important.

One is medical.

Go to the doctor.

If you don't know what it is, just go to the doctor, have a chat, make a note

of your symptoms, take them with you.

Sleep, nutrition and exercise are all things that are going to help you.

But quite often, if you're in the thick of it, you're stressed out to the hilt.

They are the hardest things to fix at that time.

So medical and then stress management.

If you focus on those two things, it's going to make a huge difference for you.

So I have got a little three B's, boundaries, battery, and breath.

So what do you need to start saying no to?

How could you need to build in more boundaries?

The second one is your battery, your energy.

Stop treating yourself like something that you can run to the end and hoping

the weekend will build you back up.

You need to build in a bit of something every day to regenerate.

The third B is going to help you with that, which is your breath.

So focused breathing really helps.

If you think of your energy like a battery and your breath as like a plug in to

the wall to recharge that, take a few moments to do a simple breathing exercise.

So breathe in for four, Hold for four.

Out for four.

Hold for four.

Four square breathing.

It is magical.

It can help you reduce your stress hormones, reset, give

you a bit of breathing space and help your brain focus more.

And that is going to be a massive help.

If you enjoyed this, you might also enjoy my

Life Satisfaction Assessment.

It's a 30 minute program where I guide you through a deep dive into 10 areas

of your life to assess what's bringing you joy and what's bringing you down.

I call it D Railed.

It's a fabulous place to begin a joy at work redesign.