The University of Sheffield has launched a specialist app to support staff who are experiencing or have been affected by the menopause.
The university aims to create a menopause friendly workplace, eliminate the stigma around the topic and level the playing field for women experiencing the condition, which is why it has given free access to the app for all employees and their partners. Run by digital healthcare platform Peppy, it provides access to expert menopause practitioners for practical, emotional and mental health support.
According to the university, it implemented the app as around 46% of its female staff are between the ages of 40 and 60, meaning almost half of the workforce will experience the menopause in their lifetime. Symptoms can sometimes have a detrimental impact on staff at work and at home.
Professor Katherine Linehan, chair of the university’s Gender Equality Committee, commented that menopause is rarely spoken about in the workplace, meaning that many who experience menopause symptoms, including women, non-binary, intersex and transgender people, may not have been getting the help they need when they are having symptoms.
“We hope this is another important step in our efforts to eliminate the gender pay gap, improve staff wellbeing and make a significant difference to the experiences of our whole university community,” she said.
Ian Wright, director of human resources, explained that a key part of the university’s vision is its commitment to create an inclusive, supportive and collaborative working environment, in which staff can be themselves and have access to what they need in order to succeed and flourish at work.
“To build on this, as part of our work to progress gender equality, it is important this includes support for menopause in the workplace. Our whole approach is to improve the lived experience of all our colleagues, and we see our partnership with Peppy to provide specialist menopause support as a step on this journey,” he added.