Tips to thrive in career for Women over 50! Menopause and beyond…

Tips to thrive in career for Women over 50! Menopause and beyond…

In my previous blog, “The Secret to a long-lasting sustainable career for Women - Balancing Act - Career Women and Life”, I had shared my personal experience and learnings of 3 decades of IT career. On similar lines, I am penning down my thoughts on tips and tricks to continue to thrive in career while going through menopause phase. Yes. That’s right, it’s high time we start talking about menopause and destigmatize this topic.

50 is a magic number in anyone’s life. After celebrating “Golden milestone birthday”, we tend to be overly critical of ourselves and start to overanalyse things. Most women will also be going through the menopause phase at 50 (Menopause symptoms starts between 45 and 55 years of age). Probably this will also be the time when women are going through lot of personal relationship changes as well. Spouse might be going through mid-life crisis, taking care of aging parents and empty nests as kids would have moved out etc...

Various independent research shows that menopause symptoms are forcing women to quit their jobs. Women over 50 are quickly becoming workplace demographics. Probably it’s not yet a noticeable change in Indian tech industry yet as average age of working women (in IT sector) is 32 years. Although IT industry is way ahead and very intentional about bridging the gender diversity gaps at all levels, still majority of the organizations doesn’t have any specific policies around menopausal support.

What we (Women) can do to continue to thrive in career.

Common menopausal symptoms affects both physical and emotional wellness. Degree and severity of symptoms may vary from women to women but causes hot flushes, joint aches, Sleeplessness, fatigue, anxiety, mood swings and struggle to concentrate. It’s a fact that we can’t escape from menopause, but we can manage this phase and reduce the impact to our personal and professional lives with good discipline and lifestyle changes.

1.     Reach out to your support system and have candid conversation on menopause topic and what help you need to overcome the symptoms.

2.     Have regular health check-ups and make your physical and emotional wellbeing a priority. Take up activities to energise your body, mind, heart, and soul.

3.     Prioritise personal care and career development equally from the start. Self-care is not selfish. This will help you with not getting burnt out.

4.     Have a sense of purpose and be passionate about your work.

5.     Educate your male colleagues on menopause (If you must). There is nothing wrong in discussing this. After all someone in their home may be going through menopause!

6.     Don’t overanalyse and overthink about your age – Follow your passion and be yourself. Don’t get bogged down with negative comments from family, “well-wishers” on what you should be doing. Know that you are a strong woman who is managing home and work well and certainly will continue to do the same.

7.     Celebrate every personal and professional milestone. Make your family an integral part of your professional success and challenges.

 What organizations can do ...

To further foster an inclusive and diverse culture, organizations should think about proactively offering menopause support to retain women leaders. Experienced middle-aged women (45+) are most likely be in the leadership roles. For lack of right support, if they leave the organization, this attrition is a huge loss to the organization. Besides, Menopause is just not a women issue. Without the right inclusive culture, employee productivity may decrease and will impact organization goals. Policies such as menopause support policy will not only help organization build the brand image of great place to work but also plays a huge role in talent retention.

1.     Organization policy changes - Introduce a menopause support policy which should clearly call out the support groups, helpline available, health insurance and other HR benefits which women can seek when required.

2.     Create an environment where employees can have open and honest conversation on the menopause concerns/experience.

3.     Conduct sensitization and focussed group discussions for all leads. Male colleagues/Managers should be made aware of the effects of the menopause and what resources are available to them to help women going through the menopause.

4.     To normalise the menopause phase in workplace, awareness on this topic should be part of Inclusion and Diversity agenda.

5.     Everyone should be empowered to proactively have open and candid conversation on the topic.

6.     Enable and empower leaders and managers (especially women) to take care of their personal needs too. Most often leaders/managers are expected to drive the changes with their teams and in the process, organizations may miss out on taking care of leads/managers.

I  n closing, I would like to reiterate that menopause is a natural physiological change in our body and should not stop us from thriving in our career. We need to speak up and leverage the platforms available to us. I, at 53 now continue to be very intentional about having fun, enjoy my work and integrate my personal and professional lives.