Around one in three women who have suffered problems with the menopause say they feel unable to discuss these health issues with their employer.
The survey — which looked at the experiences of more than 5,000 women in workplaces across the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and South Africa — found many hid symptom while at work and reported that a stigma still surrounded these common-place health issues.
The problems seemed most pronounced in Spain, with around half of working women stating that there was a stigma around menopause in the workplace.
In most countries around a third of women said they hid symptoms from their employer, although this fell to just 28 per cent in Italy.
The research found that those who experienced menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes, anxiety and fatigue before the age of 45 were least likely to ask for support from their employer.
In the UK, 63 per cent of these women said they had not wanted to ask their employer for help, compared to 43 per cent across all age groups.
This research, was conducted by Vodafone. In pointed out that in recent years many businesses have begun to introduce policies to help women, often via employee wellbeing programmes, or through the support services offered on many group risk and PMI products.
However there are concerns than many women are still leaving the workforce because they struggle with some of the effect and feel they are not support by employers.
Vodafone say it was rolling out a training and awareness programme to all employees, who have been invited to a webinar on ‘hormonal health and life stages’.
Vodafone chief human resource officer Leanne Wood says: “With menopause impacting women for a significant period of their working life, it’s important to us that our environment supports and normalises these life stages by openly talking about and supporting menopause in the workplace,” she added.
The company has set a goal of women holding 40 per cent of management and leadership roles by 2030 and said this was already reflected at board level. Globally, women currently hold more than 31 per cent of its management and leadership roles.
