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Menopause at work

Resources: the evidence, the reading and the downloads

The deeper material behind the work hub: Canadian survey results, the business case, books, podcasts, events and answers to common questions.

Why your employees need this

Three gaps most employers don't see until someone leaves.

47%

The cost of silence

of women say peri/menopause symptoms disrupt their work. 13% have already quit a job because of symptoms, and 15% are considering it. That's experience and institutional knowledge walking out the door.

Korn Ferry × Vira Health, 2024

8 in 10

The trust gap

say their employer has no menopause support. Most won't ask HR for help because they don't trust the privacy model or don't know what's reasonable to request.

Fawcett Society, 2022

Often missed

The coverage gap

typical menopause benefits are written for one kind of employee, and leave out surgical, early, neurodivergent and trans staff, who often need the most support.

Nila's pathways include these doorways by default. We don't have a measured figure for this, so we don't quote one.

Nila editorial framing, not a survey finding

The Canadian picture

Almost nobody tells you. That's the actual problem to solve.

A national survey of 1,023 Canadian women aged 40 to 60 found the barrier isn't awareness of symptoms, it's whether saying anything feels survivable. A policy nobody feels safe using is a policy that shows up in the handbook and nowhere else.

  • 70%

    would not feel comfortable talking to HR about their symptoms

  • 67%

    would not feel comfortable telling their supervisor

  • 48%

    would be embarrassed to ask for support that would actually make a difference

  • 40%

    say there is stigma around menopause at their workplace

  • 24%

    have hidden symptoms at work

  • 22%

    think their symptoms could affect their progression

  • 3 in 10

    expect to be seen as weak, old, or past their prime if they say anything

Shift work makes every one of these harder

The report ran separate focus groups with the BC Nurses' Union, which represents 48,000 nurses. More than 90 per cent of nurses are women and more than half of Canadian nurses are over 40. What they described: hot flashes, brain fog, exhaustion, headaches and body aches on the floor, and stress, embarrassment, lost confidence and fear of disclosure around them. Some had quietly moved off bedside nursing into desk roles, taking a pay cut, rather than ask for an accommodation. That is self-accommodation, and it shows up in nobody's absence statistics.

BC Nurses' Union × Leger focus groups, August 2023, in the same report

Read it sector by sector: health care, education, public service, retail, trades and self-employed work
Menopause Foundation of Canada × Deloitte, 2023 (Leger survey, n=1,023 Canadian women 40–60) ↗

What it currently costs

The bill is already being paid, quietly, by people who don't say why.

Deloitte's modelling counts only full-time employed women, so the report is clear that the real figure runs higher.

  • $3.5B

    estimated annual cost to the Canadian economy of unmanaged menopause symptoms

  • 540,000

    lost work days a year spent managing symptoms

  • $3.3B

    of that is lost income: reduced hours, reduced pay, or leaving work altogether

  • $237M

    in lost productivity on top of the lost income

  • 14%

    drop in the share of Canadian women employed between age 45 and age 59 (men drop 10%)

And in the working day itself

  • 95%

    experience symptoms, averaging seven symptoms each

  • 32%

    say symptoms have hurt their performance at work

  • 57%

    report sleep disturbance, second only to hot flashes at 62%

  • 1 in 2

    say they were unprepared for menopause when it arrived

Menopause Foundation of Canada × Deloitte, 2023 (Leger survey, n=1,023 Canadian women 40–60) ↗

What women asked for

Three-quarters want their workplace to do something. This is the list.

Not a wish list we invented. The five supports Canadian women named most often, in the order the report presents them.

  1. 01

    Benefits that actually cover treatment

    Medical insurance that covers menopause treatments and therapies, rather than stopping at the prescription and leaving the appointment, the pelvic physio and the counselling out of pocket.

  2. 02

    A written policy, including time off and flexibility

    Menopause named in policy, with time off and flexible working written down, so asking is a process rather than a favour.

  3. 03

    Adjustments to the physical work environment

    Temperature control, desk placement, access to a washroom and to cold water, a quiet space. Small, cheap, and repeatedly the thing that decides whether someone can stay in a role.

  4. 04

    A toolkit for colleagues and managers

    Something a line manager can read in ten minutes before a conversation they have never had before, so the burden of educating the room doesn't land on the person with the symptoms.

  5. 05

    Awareness sessions for employees

    Open sessions for everyone, not just women over 45. Partners, colleagues and younger staff in the room is what moves stigma numbers.

Why employers say it's worth it

  • 75%

    of women want their workplace to offer menopause support

  • 62%

    say support would help women reach senior leadership

  • 61%

    say it would reduce ageism at work

  • 59%

    say it would help retain experienced staff

See what Nila coversMenopause Foundation of Canada × Deloitte, 2023 (Leger survey, n=1,023 Canadian women 40–60) ↗

How Canada compares

Nobody is waiting for legislation to make this worth doing.

  • United Kingdom

    Roughly 1 in 10 women leave a job over menopause symptoms. Parliamentary committee work in 2021–22 and NHS guidance in late 2022 pushed menopause onto the national workplace agenda, alongside a general right to request flexible work.

  • United States

    No clear federal protection. Whether menopause symptoms fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act is unsettled, so accommodation usually runs through general disability or flexible-work processes rather than anything menopause-specific.

  • Australia

    An estimated $17B a year in lost earnings from menopause-related early retirement, and an active union push to write menopause leave into the Fair Work Act.

  • Canada

    No national menopause workplace policy. The report points instead to workplace-led examples: Dalhousie University's staff-run menopause support group (started 2022, now with staff and supervisor training), and 'My Menopause at Work,' a peer group for federal, provincial and territorial public servants.

Menopause Foundation of Canada × Deloitte, 2023 (Leger survey, n=1,023 Canadian women 40–60) ↗

Where the policy is now (2026)

The map has moved since the 2023 report. Canada is the one still at the door.

Britain, Australia and parts of the United States have all turned menopause at work into actual law or national programming in the last two years. Canada has started asking the question, but has not yet answered it.

  • International

    The first global workplace standard is here

    On September 7, 2026, the International Organization for Standardization published ISO 45010, the world's first international standard on menstruation and menopause in the workplace. It gives employers practical guidance on policies and practices that support workers through both, and it sits inside the same ISO family as ISO 45001, the occupational health and safety standard many large employers already certify against. The UK standards body BSI co-led it, building on its earlier BS 30416.

    ISO / BSI, September 2026 ↗

  • United Kingdom

    First country to write menopause into employment law

    The Employment Rights Act 2025 put menopause on the statutory map. From April 2026, large employers can publish a voluntary menopause action plan alongside their gender pay gap data, with the government pushing to make it mandatory. A Women's Employment Ambassador, campaigner and broadcaster Mariella Frostrup, was appointed to champion women's health at work. A Department for Work and Pensions review of 42 studies found there is "clearly evidence" that menopause is hampering women's progress at work.

    UK Government; DWP Menopause in the Workplace Literature Review, July 2025 ↗

  • Australia

    First national menopause campaign, plus expanded clinics

    Australia launched its first national Menopause and Perimenopause Campaign in May 2026, and from July 2026 expanded menopause and perimenopause support into nationwide clinics. The federal government has put more than $573 million into women's health, including new Medicare rebates and treatment guidelines.

    Australian Government; ABC News, June 2026 ↗

  • United States

    Rhode Island became the first state to mandate accommodations

    In June 2025, Rhode Island became the first US state to require employers to provide workplace accommodations for menopause, adding it to the state's Fair Employment Practices Act. Federal protection is still patchy, with the ADA route unsettled, so the action is happening state by state.

    Littler Mendelson; Rhode Island General Assembly, 2025 ↗

  • Canada

    A House of Commons committee started hearings in June 2026

    Canada has no national menopause strategy and no national health campaign. But in June 2026, the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women began hearings on the labour-force impacts of menopause and perimenopause, mirroring the parliamentary inquiry Britain concluded in 2022. The committee is looking at access to treatments and workplace policies, and will make recommendations to the federal government.

    The Globe and Mail (Tavia Grant), September 2026 ↗

What Hello Nila is

The meaning-making layer around midlife.

The guides, community, and companion that help your people understand what's happening and what to do next — wherever they are in the journey.

  • Breadth across the whole picture

    91 symptom guides plus pathways covering work, relationships, identity, libido, sleep, and neurodivergence, not just the physiological slice.

    Browse the guides

  • Plain-language clinical

    Grounded in SOGC, CMS, The Menopause Society, and IMS guidance. Wise-older-sister voice that translates the evidence into what to actually do next.

    See the research library

  • Inclusion woven in

    ND-first, trans-inclusive, with Black, South Asian, and East Asian evidence surfaced where it exists. Day one, every seat.

    See who this is for

  • Companion Seat for partners

    One seat can extend to the partner navigating alongside the employee — household-level support, not just individual.

    See what's included

  • Zero rollout friction

    Sign in and go. No hardware, no shipping, no device management. Same product in Toronto, London, or Manila from day one.

    See team plans

  • Editorial independence

    We don't sell a drug, device, or protocol — so the guidance stays honest about what helps, what doesn't, and what's still unknown.

    Read our editorial standards

Pairs well with

Wearables, telehealth, EAPs, and benefits platforms. Nila is the layer that makes the rest of your stack land — turning data, appointments, and referrals into something your people can actually use.

How this is different

Not another toolkit. Not another clinic marketplace.

Nila sits between the static PDFs and the high-cost clinical platforms. Here's what that means in practice.

  • Most workplaces get

    Static PDF toolkit

    Nila adds

    Interactive readiness check + 11 templates + living library + tracking + community

    Why it matters

    Employees use it before a crisis hits, not only when HR launches it.

  • Most workplaces get

    Clinical booking marketplace

    Nila adds

    No booking, no triage, no individual data to employers

    Why it matters

    Lower cost, no clinical liability, and no employee data flowing back to the employer.

  • Most workplaces get

    One-off manager training

    Nila adds

    Ongoing scripts, self-checks, and member forums

    Why it matters

    The conversation keeps going after the training session ends.

  • Most workplaces get

    Generic 'women's health' resource

    Nila adds

    Surgical, early, neurodivergent, trans, and Black-women doorways included

    Why it matters

    Covers the employees who usually get left out of the typical menopause narrative.

  • Most workplaces get

    Employer sees usage dashboards

    Nila adds

    Employer sees only anonymized aggregate above 5 seats

    Why it matters

    Employees actually trust it enough to use it.

Reads, listens, watches & events

A short shelf to share at work

Hand-picked by the Hello Nila team. Different voices, different lived experiences, and nothing that needs a clinical background to follow. Useful for ERGs, lunch-and-learns, or quietly leaving on a manager's desk.

Events

Events worth blocking out the calendar for

Live Nila sessions when we're running them, plus a short list from the wider workplace-menopause field. Past sessions drop off automatically.

Frameworks & guides

Four guides we'd hand to HR tomorrow

The standing-on-shoulders shortlist: clinical, manager-facing, HR-facing and DEI-facing. All free, all citable.

Books

Six books that travel well

From clinician-led primers to lived-experience anthologies. Diverse authors on purpose.

Podcasts

Five podcasts for the commute

Mix of clinical, cultural and friend-to-friend voices, so there's something for most people.

Watch

Four to watch (or screen at a team session)

Documentaries and short talks that work as the warm-up for an internal conversation.

External links open in a new tab. Nila isn't paid to recommend any of these and nothing here is medical advice. Suggest one we've missed? Email hello@asknila.com.

Employer brief (PDF) the short version to share internally.Canadian insurer one-pager (PDF) evidence and privacy for Canadian benefits partners.

For buyers and legal teams

Quick questions

Is Nila a clinical service or telehealth provider?
No. Hello Nila is an evidence-graded content, tracking, and community platform. We don't book appointments or provide triage, and employers never see anyone's health data. Employees use Hello Nila to get informed, then bring what they learn to their own doctor or specialist.
Can our legal or procurement team review Hello Nila's privacy model?
Yes. The institutional privacy and compliance brief covers Canadian, UK, EU, and US privacy law, data residency, sub-processors, and the aggregate-only reporting model.
How is Nila different from our existing EAP?
Most EAPs are crisis and referral lines. Nila is the resource employees open week to week—symptom guides, tracking, scripts, and community—so they catch issues early and arrive at any clinical conversation better informed.
What does the free workplace toolkit include?
A free four-minute readiness check plus eleven print-ready templates: a manager conversation script and adjustments request, a workplace policy template, a line-manager toolkit with a 45-minute training outline, a return-from-leave plan, an incident and impact log, a benefits and coverage audit, an awareness and comms starter, a menopause champion pack, an allyship page for colleagues, a shift and frontline adjustments worksheet, and a measurement one-pager.
See team plans

Your tracking, journals and check-ins are yours. No data sale, no model training on your entries. Employee data is never shared with employers.

Editorial independence · Reviewed, not recycled · Privacy by default