World Menopause Day has recently passed, and it got me thinking about how little most of us were ever told about this. Menopause typically happens at around 51 on average. It’s the years before that, perimenopause, that catch people out. They can start in the early to mid-40s and go on for a good while.
Hot flushes get all the attention, but the symptoms go much further than that. Plenty of women are sleeping badly, feeling anxious for no reason they can put a finger on, losing words halfway through a sentence and finding it harder to concentrate, all while their joints ache and weight creeps on around the middle however much they do. None of it looks obviously hormonal, so a lot of women put it down to stress or being run down, or decide they just aren’t coping as well as they used to. Some go years before anyone suggests another explanation, and many never say a word at work, because they worry it will be read as a problem with their ability.
This is why awareness matters more than any single policy. A policy only helps someone who already knows what she’s dealing with, and a lot of women don’t, sometimes for years. They just assume they’ve gone downhill. So, it comes down to more people, managers included, understanding what perimenopause looks like, so that a woman having a rough patch gets asked how she’s doing instead of being quietly written off. None of that takes a budget or a training programme to start. It takes knowing a bit more than most of us do now, and the links below are a good place to begin.
Where to read more
If you want to understand the symptoms and treatment, the NHS has a clear guide at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/menopause-and-perimenopause/ and Women’s Health Concern gives independent advice at https://www.womens-health-concern.org/.
For employers and managers, Acas covers supporting staff and having the conversation at https://www.acas.org.uk/menopause-at-work, and the CIPD has a free guide for people managers at https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/guides/menopause-people-manager-guidance/.
If you’d like practical support with movement, nutrition and mindset, I run Move & Me, which offers perimenopause and menopause coaching, at https://www.moveandme.com.
Cat Corlett
Cat joined Oxford HR in 2026 as an Operations Executive for our Europe team. Cat is an operations and delivery leader with over 20 years of experience working alongside founders, boards, and senior teams to translate strategy into execution. She is known for building clear operating structures, governance, and practical ways of working that support growth, funding, and complex delivery, particularly in early stage and mission driven organisations.
