The Menopause Career Coach on HR and L&D: Why Menopause At Work Is a Strategic Blind Spot
When I joined Nick Day on the HR L&D Podcast, we tackled a subject that remains a strategic blind spot in too many organisations: menopause at work and what it means for HR and L&D Leaders in their leadership, succession, and performance pipelines and programmes.
This isn’t about wellness sessions or tick-box policies. It’s about pipeline risk, promotability, and organisational continuity of women at the peak of their leadership careers.
And here’s my message: if businesses want to retain top women, they can’t afford to ignore menopause.
When Menopause Meets the Boardroom
For senior women, menopause doesn’t arrive as a lifestyle hurdle, it collides directly with performance expectations, executive presence, and succession plans.
It’s not that women lose their capability. But hesitation in decision-making, disrupted confidence, and altered communication dynamics change how credibility is perceived in the boardroom and in progression, succession and promotability criteria.
That perception matters. It influences investment conversations, promotion readiness, and leadership positioning. Left unaddressed, it’s a commercial risk, and a big business cost.
The Data Leaders Can’t Ignore
One of the points I shared with Nick that always stops HR and L&D leaders in their tracks is this:
That’s a significant stat. And a menopause benefit that women really want. Not the yoga app or the support circle and certainly not the menopause 'happy' badge that many HR professionals think is the badge that women want when in fact it's irrelevant to their workplace wellbeing and their own leadership careers.
When women at the top are weighing their career futures, access to strategic leadership and career support during menopause becomes a decisive factor. If organisations fail to act, they risk attrition right at the point when female leaders are most valuable.
Beyond Symptom Sessions: Strategic Interventions
Too many companies respond to menopause with awareness talks or symptoms sessions. That isn’t enough.
Through the NOPAUSE™ Method and my work with The Menopause Maze™, I show organisations how to:
Diagnose risk with data-driven tools like the NOPAUSE™ Scorecard.
Equip managers with lifecycle-aware leadership strategies.
Create confidential coaching routes for senior women who cannot disclose openly.
Build succession pipelines that factor in the realities of menopause transitions.
This is about protecting decision-speed, boardroom presence, and promotability, not diluting conversations into “wellbeing wallpaper."
Four Immediate Actions for HR and L&D
On the podcast, I shared the four actions organisations should take now:
Introduce lifecycle-aware leadership development that accounts for menopause transitions.
Offer confidential, personalised professional menopause career coaching benefits for senior women.
Equip managers with knowledge and on-demand learning resources that are linked to performance, progression and promotability - the strategy not just the symptoms insights.
Embed menopause into succession planning, not just wellbeing agendas.
Because the reality is this: if menopause isn’t on your boardroom agenda, you’re already behind.
The Takeaway from HR L&D
What I valued about this conversation with Nick Day is that it wasn’t reduced to symptoms, it was a serious discussion about leadership continuity, organisational performance, and future workforce expectations.
Menopause may interrupt consistency, but with the right tools and frameworks, it becomes a strategic lever.
Because leaders don’t pause. Careers don’t pause. And neither should your business.
🎧 Watch to the full episode here:
Your Next Step
Take the NOPAUSE™ Scorecard - diagnose exactly where menopause could be costing your organisation performance and pipeline.
Implement The NOPAUSE Career Coaching Method for your top tier women leaders - through confidential executive menopause career coaching and organisational strategy, I help women leaders and HR/L&D teams ensure menopause is a growth engine, not a career exit point.
Fiona McKay is the multi-award winning CEO of The Menopause Maze™ and is also known in the media as The Menopause Career Coach™. She has been awarded the coveted titles of Career Coach of The Year 2025, Business Advisor of The Year 2025, The Most Influential Women's Health and Career Support Business Women and Menopause Champion of The Year.
She is the Menopause Career Coach C-suite women and workplaces go to when they want to achieve their biggest career and boldest business growth goals so they can lead limitlessly through all stages of menopause.
She is a featured strategic menopause career and business coach in The Guardian, The Independent, OK Magazine and as a menopause business and boardroom expert on live TV including BBC News and ITV News.
You can connect with Fiona at: fmckay@themenopausemaze.com.
Fiona is also available for keynote speaking, panel chairing and conference hosting at menopause awareness month events, women's leadership and business conferences and for fronting brand campaigns as a leading menopause influencer.