What single issue could affect more than 40% of your board, disrupt succession plans, contribute to the loss of experienced leaders and undermine years of investment in developing talent?
Does your organisation have a strategic plan for menopause and perimenopause to ensure it doesn’t go from being a wellbeing issue for individuals to a strategic talent retention issue that affects the whole organisation?
At a time when women occupy 43% of FTSE 350 board positions and 35% of leadership roles, organisations have made significant progress in improving female representation at senior levels but are organisations losing this leadership expertise at precisely the time when these women are reaching the pinnacle of their careers?
Research from the CIPD found that one in ten women leave their employment because of menopause related symptoms. This is not something that only affects a small percentage of women though - 67% report a negative impact on their working lives.
For boards, this is two-fold; an employee wellbeing issue AND a strategic talent issue.
What menopause is and why the timing is so critical for leaders
When people refer to menopause, they frequently think of a single life event. In reality, many workplace impacts arise during perimenopause, the years leading up to menopause itself (measured as 12 months after periods have stopped), when symptoms such as poor sleep, anxiety, memory difficulties, reduced concentration and loss of confidence can occur.
These years frequently coincide with a critical stage in many women's careers:
taking on executive leadership responsibilities
stepping into board appointments
leading significant organisational change
mentoring future leaders
The result is that organisations risk losing highly experienced leaders at precisely the moment they have accumulated the greatest organisational knowledge, commercial insight and stakeholder relationships.
Governance on this issue is changing
The UK Government has highlighted menopause as both an employment and economic participation issue, recognising the importance of retaining experienced women within the workforce. Recent government reviews have examined workplace support; productivity impacts and the role employers can play in enabling women to remain and progress in work.
Alongside this, subject to final legislation, employers with 250+ employees are expected to publish Equality Action Plans alongside their Gender Pay Gap reporting. The plans are being designed to show what actions employers are taking both to reduce their gender pay gap and to support employees experiencing menopause. The Government has already issued guidance, and voluntary plans became available in 2026 ahead of an expected mandatory requirement from spring 2027. Whilst regulatory compliance is important more critically, for boards, this issue is about talent retention.
The business opportunity cost
Forward-thinking organisations are increasingly recognising that supporting women through the menopause transition can help them retain experience. In many organisations, women in their 40s and 50s hold critical leadership positions and institutional knowledge. If these women leave the workforce they lose relationships, organisational memory, leadership capability and potential successors.
If menopause-related challenges contribute to women stepping back from promotion opportunities, reducing their hours or leaving, the investment in talent pipelines risks being undermined.
Enhancing employer brand
Senior candidates increasingly evaluate culture and support structures alongside remuneration.
An organisation that demonstrates a modern, practical approach to supporting different life stages is likely to be more attractive to experienced talent than one that simply relies on policy statements.
What good practice looks like
Importantly, effective support is not necessarily expensive.
The most successful approaches tend to combine practical adjustments, leadership awareness and access to appropriate support.
Examples include:
Training managers to have sensitive, informed and constructive conversations.
Flexible working arrangements where appropriate including greater flexibility around working hours and meeting schedules.
Workplace adjustments relating to temperature and working environment.
Employee support networks and menopause champions.
Access to occupational health expertise and private healthcare pathways (NHS menopause care waiting lists are significant in some areas).
Menopause policies that are actively implemented rather than simply published.
Increasingly, organisations are also reviewing how employee benefits can support retention such as private healthcare pathways and expert menopause advice can help employees receive support more quickly than may otherwise be possible, reducing the likelihood that symptoms escalate into a longer-term workplace challenge.
How the challenge has changed
Instead of solely focusing on female representation at the beginning of the talent pipeline there is a need to consider how we ensure experienced leaders remain part of that pipeline; able to perform, contribute and progress throughout their career.
Organisations have worked hard over the last decade to strengthen female representation in leadership and the boardroom. The next challenge is ensuring that those same leaders are not lost at the point they are most experienced, most influential and most valuable.
Organisations getting it right will recognise it for what it really is: a leadership retention, succession planning and talent strategy opportunity and not an individual’s ‘menopause’ problem.
As expectations around workplace support continue to evolve, boards may want to ask themselves a simple question "Have we created the conditions to attract and retain women leaders?”
We'd be interested to hear how your organisations a is approaching this challenge and whether menopause is featuring in wider discussions around succession planning and leadership retention.