On International Women’s Day we held a webinar with Wellbeing of Women (leading UK women’s health charity and innovator behind the Menopause Workplace Pledge) to discuss the importance of supporting women’s health in the workplace has opened up a lot of interesting questions from clients. There’s so much more to explore in this area, so let’s take a look at our views on some of the frequently asked questions – covering all from fertility leave strategies, painful periods and DEI strategies!
We’ve also included a list of handy resources below.
Miscarriage & Fertility Leave
Q1: Do companies providing miscarriage leave offer this to both birth mothers and their spouse/partner?
- Our experience is that some employers globally do provide this benefit to spouses and partners through policy. However, even where companies do not offer this benefit to spouses and partners explicitly in their policies, in practice employers will consider allowing this.
Q2: What are the data privacy risks around asking employees to open up about taking time off for fertility leave / treatments (as opposed to bringing this under the umbrella of sick leave)
- There are some data privacy risks (i.e. ensuring employee’s consent to sharing this information and it is kept confidential insofar as possible) though these are generally manageable and taken on by employers for the benefit of achieving greater transparency and support in this area.
Q3: If a female employee is going through or planning to go through fertility treatments, is planning an overseas adoption or surrogacy arrangement and qualifies for a leave (for example, FMLA in the U.S. or personal or parental leave in Australia) should the leave be granted if the treatments are outside of the home country?
This is a complex question and will require an analysis based on local law as well as the individual circumstances. It is difficult to provide a clear answer on this through policy because there are so many variables here. As such, we recommend providing more general statements in policies and asking employees to discuss their situation with the company to determine what is both legally required and possible, in the circumstances, by the Company. Additionally, there are also strict laws that apply around fertility treatments, adoption and surrogacy and these differ significantly from one country to the next (and within countries, from one state to another). These are also matters that companies must consider when electing to implement both discretionary company leave and benefits policies for these types of treatments in addition to accommodating employee statutory leave requests.
Specific Women’s Health Matters
Q4: Our employee keeps taking time off sick for painful periods but they do not have a diagnosis. Do they qualify for employment protection?
This depends on the laws of the particular jurisdiction (which should, of course, be checked for particular cases) though at a high level you need to be aware of:
Q5: What about mental illnesses that are extra prevalent in women- such as eating disorders? And best practices for supporting women with depression?
The statistics globally demonstrate that there are a number of health issues that impact women in greater numbers than men. This is why employers are being encouraged to find better ways to support their female population to manage these issues and, in turn, to perform successfully at work.
DEI Strategy
Q6: What’s one strategy to recruit and retain female talent to positively impact DEI?
There is no one-size-fits-all approach, though:
- On recruitment, many employers are opting to take a more proactive stance in publishing their family friendly (i.e. maternity, paternity and parental leave policies) in a visible spot on their recruitment websites rather than leaving job applicants to ask for this during the recruitment process (which they often will not for fear of not looking dedicated to the role). This approach may actually help recruit key male and female talent, recognising that there are also male caregivers who are interested in utilising these benefits.
Q7: Do you have any recommendations on how to advocate for improving women’s health in the workplace to leadership?
The key to advocate and develop the business case for better support of women’s health internally, particularly at Board level, is backing up the proposal with a good range of measurable data. This should be data that demonstrates the detrimental impact of these issues on the business / economy such as the alarming statistics on the number of women leaving, or expected to leave, the workplace due to menopausal symptoms and the tangible costs of this or examples of positive case studies in other organisations (data consistently shows that companies with female leaders outperform those dominated by men). The data should also include the estimated costs of implementing benefits as well as the cost savings that will be seen in other areas. One way of developing this data so that it is usable and relatable is to look at what other organizations are doing and the cost/benefit ratios that they have experienced as a result. See our Resources section below for some additional tips on where to find useful data points.
Q8: How can DEI programmes address women’s health matters effectively?
It’s key to know your blindspots and work with organisations and experts who have experience in navigating the complexities in this area and who are able to assist you to tailor your DEI programmes to fit your organization and your needs. HR and management teams are not expected to be fertility, menopause or medical experts! Engage with local charities and organisations working in this area. Many offer training and guidance and you can use this as an opportunity to run your DEI strategy by them to get their views on alternative approaches and any blindspots. We also encourage you to discuss these types of initiatives with colleagues within other companies to learn about what has worked well and what they would do differently. You can also make use of any resources and information available to you from your occupational health and benefits providers and there are also a lot of useful resources available publicly on websites such as LeanIn, The Pink Elephant’s Network, CircleIn, The Women’s Agenda, Forbes Women, Culture Amp and many more.
Virtual Working and Women’s Health
Q9: How can employers support women’s health in the work from home workplace?
This really comes down to the broader issues with supporting employees in a virtual environment – encouraging open conversations, having points of contact for employees to reach out to and making sure that information is shared across the team and regularly checking-in/wellness checks. Employers who have run specific training sessions on women’s health (such as family planning, fertility and menopause) often find that teams have taken it as an opportunity to connect and create support groups within the workplace which can help build better team communication, understanding and empathy – which creates better work environments even within in the virtual workplace.
Resources
- Link to our webinar with Wellbeing of Women on Women’s Health in the Workplace.
- Our article on the global complexity of surrogacy benefits.
- Wellbeing of Women, a leading UK women’s health charity, has published guidance on supporting employee’s with the menopause and factsheets on other women’s health matters.
- The Equality and Human Rights Commission Code which gives guidance on support employees going through fertility treatment in the workplace.
- Our article here on the increasing focus of the FCA on managing culture and diversity within financial services firms.
- The Fawcett Society report on the impact on menopause in the workplace and the economic case for change.
- Fertility Network UK which offers employers guidance and training on support employees with fertility matters.
- The UK government’s consultation on menopause in the workplace – the reading materials are packed with useful statistics, including from an international perspective.
- Our tips on how to support employees going through the menopause.
- Our Shareholder Naomi Seddon’s book, Milk & Margaritas, packed full of data and case studies on the need for increased diversity in the workplace.
- Recent McKinsey research on women in the workplace for some interesting statistics, particularly around attrition risk.
- This interesting report by employee benefits platform Circle In on the impact of menopause in the workplace.
- The guidance from the Pink Elephants Network on supporting those who have suffered miscarriage and early pregnancy loss as well as their study with the University of Sydney on this topic.
