In this piece, Laura Haycock explores why employers in the veterinary profession are taking action on menopause and what others can do to ensure valuable female talent is retained and optimised to its full potential.
In 2026, organisations that are not already taking action around menopause will be waking up to the new legal imperative to do so. In December 2025, the new Employment Rights Act became law and, with it, a major provision that requires employers with over 250 staff to have in place a menopause action plan by sometime in 2027 at the latest. There are good reasons for it. Women need to and want to keep working beyond their 30s and 40s and to take their hard-earned places on management teams. Yet, without menopause support, talented and experienced women find it increasingly difficult to sustain careers. This is not only detrimental to women. It is detrimental to the wider economy and household finances. It is also detrimental to business.
There is long-term strategic value in engaging women through and beyond their menopause years. This strategic value will not diminish but grow more critical over time. In the UK, women make up over 45% of workers and, despite the challenges of menopause, the fastest growing demographic group in the workplace are women over the age of 45. It would not be unusual in certain sectors to find a quarter (or more) of employees are women of menopausal age. This makes menopause far from a minority issue – and what employer wouldn’t want to ensure that this growing cohort is contributing their full value?
Although more women do continue to work, we see that there is increasing evidence of a “menopause penalty” with women’s participation, progression and earnings peaking years before men’s. Without support, women feel forced to forego promotions, step back from front-line roles, or opt for part-time options. They stall before their true value becomes fully realised. Many attempt to struggle on in silence but suffer burnout and increasing ill-health with consequences for their performance at work.
The issue is critical in the veterinary profession. The RCVS reported in 2021 that recruitment continues to be a key challenge and alongside this there are difficulties retaining valuable staff, particularly women in this growing sector[1]. Although, as evidenced by the BVA, there are a range of barriers impacting retention of all women in the profession[2], an earlier RCVS report in 2006 highlighted how the attrition of women escalates with age and life stage. At graduation, 75% of veterinary surgeons are female. At the age of 46-50 women make up just 50%, and in the over 65s, it’s down to 17%. Veterinary organizations are haemorrhaging talent when they can least afford to do so. Furthermore, a lack of diversity at the top does nothing to encourage younger women in the profession to stay.
Not every woman is detrimentally impacted by menopause symptoms. However, most will report some negative impact. In a Veterinary Woman / SPVS survey, 33% reported a moderate to severe impact on working life[3]. When this happens concurrently with a range of other mid-life challenges, and in a context of little understanding and support at work, then something has to give. This is more than a temporary blip in women’s careers. Once a woman has stepped back from her career, it becomes increasingly difficult and unlikely that she will regain her momentum. The impact of menopause itself is generally only short-term. However, the loss to organisations becomes a long-term one.
The great news is that there are practical actions employers can take to address this; actions that stem the immediate loss and which position organisations to capitalise on the full diverse talents of all those who enter the profession. These actions revolve around empowering women to work in ways that best suit them within a culture that “gets it” and is intent on providing support. The result is seeing women continue to participate, perform, progress and thrive, contributing their full value through to the most senior roles.
Menopause actions plans can provide focus and structure that institutes and sustains change. They are more than simply a policy or statement of intent. When most effective, they spell out:
- Why action is needed for the benefit of women and the organisation itself
- What actions will address the practical, psychological and cultural barriers at play
- How actions will be shared by engaging a wide stakeholder community
- How to prioritise actions for specific organisational contexts and budgets
- How impact will be sustained through measurable systemic change
At its heart, the challenge is one of empowerment. We know from years of organisational and psychological research that to excel and thrive at work, every individual needs the same key ingredients[4]:
- The knowledge, capability and confidence to deliver
- A sense of autonomy and control to do things in a way that best suits them
- The support of a community in which they feel they belong
Workplace systems, culture and working practices have evolved over time to reflect these needs and through this, optimise motivation and performance. However, with this new generation of women working into their 50s and beyond, we are learning that our organisational systems and practices don’t always achieve these universally important outcomes for women working through menopause. Just when women are on the cusp of senior leadership roles, or at their professional peak, they can find their confidence falter, feel trapped in a system tipped against them and feel silenced and alienated by the colleagues they most need in their corner.
If employers are genuinely intent on optimising the motivation and performance of all staff, then action is needed to deliver empowerment with mid-life women in mind. From my best-selling book, “M-POWER: A Menopause Action Plan for Organizations”[5], business leaders have taken great value from the evidence-based M-POWERED framework that guides and details how the above can be best achieved. Learning from organisations that have led the way, we find that being menopause friendly includes many things such as:
- Shining a light on the need for change and linking this to organisational strategy
- Developing a shared awareness and understanding of menopause and its impact
- Highlighting everyone’s legal responsibilities as well as the practical limits
- Breaking taboo on menopause so that no-one has to struggle in silence
- Offering workplace flexibility and workplace adjustments that meet individual need
- Helping women see the opportunities ahead of them and helping them to adapt
- Building a community that offers both personal and practical support
- Integrating all of this within wider organisational systems
- Measuring the impact of change on key organisational metrics
| M | Menopause | Create an integrated menopause action plan to: |
| P | Purpose | Engage stakeholders in shared strategic mission on menopause |
| O | Openness | Open up discussion, challenge taboo, and develop understanding |
| W | Will | Give women flexibility to exercise personal will and choice |
| E | Effectiveness | Help women maximise their confidence and effectiveness |
| R | Relationships | Build supportive relationships with leaders and colleagues |
| E | Environment | Adapt the physical environment to be menopause-friendly |
| D | Delivery | Integrate delivery of actions for sustainable systemic change |
Organisations with the best of intentions can find it’s hard to get started on menopause and to translate words into actions. Too often it’s left to women themselves to fight for change. With M-POWERED, every employer or manager now has an accessible roadmap for delivering on their commitment to women’s long-term value and potential.
Laura Haycock, founder of Brew People, is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. Her key focus is in helping clients understand the diverse world in which we operate and supporting leaders in maximising the opportunities that come through being more inclusive. Laura has worked with the BVA on a range of member resources that build inclusion in the veterinary profession and recently spoke about menopause at a BVA Congress Panel at the 2025 London Vet Show. She has deep expertise in empowering women at work. Her number one best-selling book, M-POWER: A Menopause Action Plan for Organizations, offers a simple, evidence-based framework to help leaders drive meaningful change in the workplace.
[1] https://www.rcvs.org.uk/news-and-views/events/workforce-summit-2021/
[2] https://www.bva.co.uk/media/2988/gender-discrimination-in-the-vet-profession-bva-workforce-report-nov-2018.pdf
[3] https://www.veterinarywoman.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Menopause-Report.pdf
[4] https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2018_ManganelliEtAl_SDT.pdf
[5] https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-Power-Menopause-Action-Plan-Organizations/dp/1788607333/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
Get in touch with Laura at: lhaycock@brewpeople.co.uk
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