April Haberman from MiDOViA | Bringing Menopause Into the Workplace Well-Being Conversation

Christine: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of the HR Scoop. I’m Christine Muldoon and I’ll be your guest host today. Andrea has re recently stepped into an exciting new role, and while I know I have some big shoes to fill, I’m honored to carry on the conversation. So let’s dive right in. I am thrilled to welcome our guest, April Haberman, the co-founder and CEO of Maddo.

Adobe is doing incredible work. Helping organizations address menopause in the workplace through customized training resources and support. Their mission is all about creating lasting cultural change, boosting retention, productivity, and building workplaces where everyone can thrive isn’t the what we all wanna do.

So April, welcome to the show.

April: Thanks so much. This should be a fun conversation, Christine.

Christine: Yes, April, I’m [00:01:00] so excited about our conversation today. You and I have actually had the honor of partnering on several opportunities on the amazing topic of menopause. Um, including most recently we’re helping WebMD Health Services become a menopause friendly workplace in 2025.

So I’m really excited about that as well. So let’s just kick things off. Let’s start with, for those that may not necessarily be familiar, can you tell a little bit more about Mado? And actually what inspired you to launch this mission-driven company?

April: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for asking. For those that aren’t familiar with mondovia, in a nutshell, we help organizations integrate menopause.

Into the workplace culture. And we do that several different ways and I’m sure Christine, that we’ll unpack that here a little bit more on this podcast. But, um, mostly [00:02:00] through our menopause friendly membership and accreditation program, but also through resources, training and other useful tools. Um, I think to.

Answer your question on how we came to launch Modo. I have to back up just a little bit, uh, because my background is in menstrual health, sexual reproductive health, and I certainly didn’t, um, you know, when I was in my twenties. Finishing college. I didn’t picture myself talking about menstruation and menopause in my fifties, but I, I ended up here.

I ended up in the menstrual health space. Initially, I took my daughter to a puberty class 12 years ago, and on the way home from that puberty class, she asked me a question that changed the trajectory of my career, honestly. She said, mom, what do women and girls do? If they can’t afford to buy tampons in pads, and she was a part of a girls who care club that did service [00:03:00] projects once a month, and homelessness at the time was really on her heart and her mind.

Hence the question, right? So what I thought was going to turn into a very simple service project for her club. Again, it turned into this, this long-term career For me, the answer at the time was nothing. We, we realized at the time that women and girls all over the world were staying home from school and work because they didn’t have what they needed to man manage their menstruation.

They were using newspaper rags, leaves, and so at the time I made it a mission to change that I. I wanted to make a real difference and I worked in development for the next 10 years with a wonderful organization tackling period poverty. And through that work I realized how important education is, how empowering it.

Is and really life changing, um, as well as sustainable programming. And I really wanna point that out because you know, with any nonprofit [00:04:00] work, you don’t want a project to be one and done. You want real change. And real change happens when you implement sustainable programs. So if you fast forward to 2023.

Um, I myself went through early menopause and my friends knew that my background was in sexual reproductive health, and they began to ask questions. Their friends began to ask questions, and I quickly realized that there was a lack of information for women in midlife. I. So if you couple that, uh, with the fact that their doctors didn’t have the information that they needed to help manage the menopause symptoms, you end up with a conundrum, right?

For a lack of a better word. And there was an, an empty space, a white space, um, in the menopause. Market, if you will. Um, Kim Hart, my co-founder and president and I decided at that time to fill that space. We wanted to make sure that we were changing the narrative that we could get out of bed every single day [00:05:00] with that passion and that drive to ensure that.

Women now could manage their symptoms and they could stay in the workplace as well as our daughters and for generations to come. So here we are in 2025, uh, launching Mondovia to make sure that women can contribute to the workplace.

Christine: I have to say your daughter is amazingly smart and maybe we’ll have to have her as a guest on the podcast just asking that question.

Ironically, you know, fast forward, I certainly have. Friends and family that are asking all these questions related to menopause now, because I think everyone’s going through it at, you know, our ages and like they’re not, there’s no information, they’re not educated. They don’t know what they should be asking their doctor or is their doctor asking them questions based on their feelings and symptoms.

So I would say right at this present moment, this is a [00:06:00] topic that’s also near to my heart, and I will also admit. That I’ve been learning right alongside my peers, my friends, family, and the organizations we support. You know, learning about how we can make menopause a topic within the workplace and support women in the workplace.

So I’m really, um, excited about what we’re gonna talk about today. I know that you, April, have spent more than a decade working in global women’s health, a space that really has evolved. Pretty significantly over the years. So I have to ask you how your perspective has really shifted over time and what are some of the changes that you’re seeing in women’s health and wellness today from from the past?

April: Yeah, it, it, you know, over the past 12 years I have seen significant changes. When I first started, um, in development in [00:07:00] menstrual health, there was almost a feeling of, um, invisibility. I. Uh, around women’s health issues, especially menstrual health. At the time, the, they weren’t topics that people were talking about openly, and they certainly weren’t prioritized in the workplace or in public health conversations.

I remember having conversations with, um, potential corporate partners and even the word men. Was whispered and many people squirmed in their chairs and, and I’m talking about women, you know, these were women that I was talking to. And more often than not, I would ask if it was okay to show them the washable pads that the volunteers had sewn to help explain the mission and the products.

And it was a very delicate line that I had to walk. And slowly but surely, those conversations became more normal. And in fact, I’ve had the privilege of talking in front of audiences of several hundred people in corporate [00:08:00] environments about menstruation. And I’m seeing this the same similar trajectory begin to happen with menopause.

And that’s good news. We’re seeing comfort levels begin to change around this topic. And over the past decade, um, I’ve really seen an incredible shift in not just conversations, but more research. And I certainly hope that that continues. More recognition that women’s health is foundational to a family health, community health, and even economic health.

You know, we can talk about the economic case that can be made as well. Um, awareness is growing. We we’re seeing a lot of celebrities begin to step up and share their stories, and I certainly think that that has helped to pull back the curtain on this topic, and it’s really helping us to turn that.

Awareness that’s building now into action, but there’s still a gap. You know, that’s the good news, that [00:09:00] there’s still a gap because acknowledging isn’t enough. We need to begin to build those systems in healthcare, in education, in workplaces that support women through. All life stages. So we’re, we’re still seeing a cliff, uh, kind of a fall off point with women after they’ve had children, you know, to your point, you’ve, you’ve taught yourself, right.

Christine, you said that, that you’re learning as you go. Uh, as I am. You know, I have a strong background in menstrual health and sexual reproductive health, but I think even our experts still have a lot to learn in this space.

Christine: What’s funny is that, that you said this. Menstruation. Yeah, you whispered in.

Because in reality, I don’t think people talk about that in the workplace either. And I’m thinking back to, you know, many, many years ago, I’m like, we never talked about that. One of the thing, and I, I just learned this about you, so I think it’s interesting. I didn’t realize that, you know, this mens menstrual health was, you [00:10:00] know, really where you started out.

And one of the things I really admire about your work is this. Holistic approach that you now bring to organizations and empowering women. And I say this because we talk about holistic wellbeing, but thinking about this holistic approach and women’s health together in this context, I think we have to describe a little bit about what that means.

Like why is it so important then to consider the different life stages that women experience, and then sort of why it’s so important to have that same. Perspective in the workplace.

April: Yeah, this is really where I can step up on my soapbox, so I really appreciate that question, Christine. It’s really important todo to have a holistic approach and I think that that is, um, it re I know that that is what drives our organization to continue to move forward.

We wanted to put a [00:11:00] stake in the ground with that. When I talk about a holistic approach, I mean recognizing that. Women’s health isn’t siloed, it’s physical, it’s emotional, mental, social, and then economic. As I mentioned before, because I believe that you can’t just look at one piece. I. For example, menopause.

It’s not just hot flashes. It’s not just brain fog, it’s sleep, it’s heart health, it’s bone health, it’s mental health, workplace impact, you know, social impact, finances, relationships, right? And that list just continues to go on. So a holistic approach is about connecting the dots across all of these areas and ensuring that women have the information and support and resources that they need every.

Single stage of life, not just when they’re young, not just during pregnancy, not just, not just right, fill in the blank, but throughout the full journey, including [00:12:00] menopause, because it does have an effect on our personal lives, our professional lives, and in society as a whole. If we’re keeping topics like menstruation and menopause at a hushed.

Whispered level. And that’s why when we work with companies to build menopause workplace programs, we design them holistically as well. It’s not enough to have a single lunch and learn, uh, session for example, or handout one brochure, true menopause at work support. Means looking at the whole ecosystem, are your benefits inclusive of inclusive of menopause care?

Are managers trained to really respond with empathy and understanding? Are your policies flexible enough to support someone experiencing chronic fatigue or lack of sleep? For example? Do your physical spaces allow for them? To have temperature control or private areas to regroup, for example. So [00:13:00] you have to begin to ask these questions and implement not just logistics, but you have to begin to shift the culture.

And that takes time and that takes that holistic approach so that anyone in the organization can raise their hand and say, you know what? That’s me. This is what I’m going through and this is the help that I need. Without fear, without shame. ’cause really that’s, we wanna normalize it. We wanna normalize the conversation.

Christine: I think there are, so I love what you said about, we call them different dimensions of wellbeing. Physical, social, emotional, financial, um. Feeling that care at work, these are all dimensions, but we have to look at menopause. Very similar to maybe other benefits that you might. Um, offer employees at your organization.

So let’s just take pregnancy for example, right? You, you offer pregnancy leave you, you are more vocal or [00:14:00] aware of the impact that a pregnant pregnancy has on an employee from a physical and emotional, a social and financial perspective. Well, menopause is the same way. How it impacts women is very different.

I mean, maybe the thing I’m going through may not be the things that you are going through, however, we’re, we’re not addressing and supporting women and actually, quite honestly, men in the workplace who have peers or family members that are also going through it. I know you and I have talked about this.

Um, I like to look at, um, menopause and other, um, women’s health in parallel to other things that we have learned how to support. So as a wellbeing company, I would say that over the last couple of years we have certainly seen this transition to [00:15:00] supporting mental health in the workplace and becoming, uh, normalizing mental health in the workplace.

I would say though that menopause still feels very much a bit of a taboo topic. You know, just like menstruation, we’re not really talking about it. Why do you think that is? What’s really holding organizations back from giving it the same attention and openness as? Other things that we’ve seen, like mental health?

April: Yeah. Really great question. As we come upon, um, mental health awareness month next month in May, um, I think part of it is that menopause sits at the intersection of age, gender, and health. And all three of those things have historically been really tricky and sometimes uncomfortable topics for workplaces specifically to address.

And I think there’s also, uh, been this [00:16:00] longstanding misconception that menopause is purely a personal issue. And although it is personal and we differ, as you mentioned, Christine, in our symptoms and how we wanna manage it, what our philosophies are, how comfortable we are talking about it. When the reality is, is that it has real tangible impacts on productivity, retention, healthcare costs, and really overall workplace wellbeing.

Um, but I think we also have to acknowledge that the stigma still exists. So that’s kind of the elephant in the room. We like to say, oh, we wanna normalize the conversation. And we do. But there is still a lot of stigma that exists. Many women, especially in mid or senior level management, don’t want to be labeled or they don’t wanna be diminished.

It’s hard enough to make your way to the top in environments that are, that are still male dominated, for example. [00:17:00] There’s kind of this unspoken pressure to appear unaffected or always composed. So the last thing that we want to do. Or anyone wants to do is to be seen as less capable because I’m managing symptoms like brain fog or hot flashes, for example.

And the more senior role, the more isolated you can feel. So we keep hearing from senior leaders that I feel so alone and I don’t have anyone. To talk to when you’re the only woman in the room, right. Or very few in the room because you’re in a male dominated industry, that can be really hard. I remember, uh, working in the telecom industry before my development days and before I had kids.

Um, I was pregnant during both of my babies during that time, and this was the height of, you know, the boom of telecom. And it was very, very heavily male dominated. I remember sitting in a senior leadership, um, meeting, you know, in the [00:18:00] boardroom, and I remember thinking, I can’t, I can’t. Tell them that I have to go to the bathroom again for the third time.

What are they gonna think? Right? And, and because I was the only pregnant woman in the room, and I think that’s true beyond boardrooms, I think in trade professions, for example, they have traditionally been male dominated. Like your construction, manufacturing, aviation, um, tech industry that’s changing a little bit, but still heavily dominated male.

Speaking up about menopause can feel next to impossible. So there’s often no space or no language and certainly no precedent on how to have those conversations. So, you know, where, where do you go for support? If you are having hot flashes, when you’re having trouble sleeping, when your joints ache, for example, who do?

Who do you even tell? So many people are suffering silently, Christine, they’re afraid of being dismissed. [00:19:00] Some industries menopause is still joked about, you know, we, we are still the but of many, many jokes. And so that silence is part of the problem. And that’s exactly why culture really matters. Uh, workplace culture matters here in this conversation because if not, you know, they’re not gonna speak up and it leaves people behind.

Christine: I think some of the things you pointed out. So I would say age, certainly, I think is a huge factor because it’s not that you’re mature and you have all this experience, it’s that when you talk about menopause, it aligns to being old. Right? Or that’s how I feel. Right? Right. Ageism, right old. And then the other factor, if that many people like, oh, it’s all hot flashes.

It’s not. And it could be things like that brain fog. I feel that I just work so much harder to trying to remember things and you know, like [00:20:00] how I wanna make sure I remember that person’s name or I don’t really remember what we discussed in that last meeting. So your, your brain is actually, I feel like working on over time to be able to be as strong and articulate almost as it used to be.

In that, in that workplace setting or even in a, you know, personal fund setting as well.

April: Yeah, absolutely. But we’re starting to speak up. That’s the good news. I, I always like to try to bring it back to the good news, um, is that we are beginning to speak up. Employees are starting to speak up. Just like with mental health.

It took a, you know, it took a crisis. Like Covid to get us to speak up and openly about that. And, and we are, and the data is beginning to build, uh, we’re beginning to see the business case around menopause support, just like mental health. So there is good news there.

Christine: And what you need is you need people at your organization who are wanting to spearhead these, these type of education and support [00:21:00] and getting the word out.

Like, let’s talk about it. Even if it’s employee resource groups or you know, having small work groups, um, working with your benefits and HR team. There’s different ways to do that. So let’s transition a little bit on that note and talk about Whatdo really focuses on, so we talked a little bit about Maddo helping create or support workplaces becoming menopause friendly.

Uh, and I think we should explain to our audience what that really means. So April, can you paint a picture for us around. What it looks like in practice to be menopause friendly, and maybe you can share some examples of what different organizations are doing to become menopause friendly. Yeah,

April: thanks for that.

We, when we, uh, started Mondovia and rolled out the Menopause friendly membership and [00:22:00] accreditation, one thing that we wanted to do, again, coming back to that stake in the ground, is to ensure that menopause friendly doesn’t, wasn’t just this term that organizations were throwing around lightly because it was starting to, uh, we, we were hearing conversations.

Um, I’m using air quotes here for listeners that that. Can’t see this video, but menopause friendly was implementing a policy or it was including a benefit, uh, that would cover menopause care, both of which are really important, but that’s not the true definition in our opinion of menopause friendly.

Becoming menopause friendly means creating an environment where employees experiencing menopause can feel seen, supported. Accommodated without that fear of judgment and stigma that I mentioned before, and it means creating long lasting, sustainable change. That’s a shift in culture [00:23:00] that that sustainability piece is really the key word here.

Organizations. That are menopause friendly, are integrating menopause into the very fabric of their or organizations. It’s not, programming isn’t reliant upon one or two people that are championing a program or an effort. And then when those two people leave the organization, the programming leaves. Or goes away as well.

It’s moving away from that one and done training, so to speak, those siloed benefits and really again, integrating it into the organization. So let me give you a couple of examples like you ask. It could be that you are offering training and awareness. For all employees across all levels of the organization so that everyone within the organization has the same understanding of menopause.

Managers understand menopause and how to support [00:24:00] employees. Employees know how to get the support that they need both within the organization and with the their healthcare providers. That’s some of the training that we do with organizations. It is looking at that current policy that you may or may not have in place creating or updating that policy or guidance document.

A lot of organizations are now referencing them as guidance documents to include menopause. So we’re reviewing your policies to ensure flexibility, like offering those, um, you know, temperature controls, cooling accommodations, breaks, that might be important for someone that just needs a refresh for five or 10 minutes.

Flexible scheduling, sick leave that recognizes menopause symptoms. These accommodations can be really simple to implement. Even just down to having menstrual products in your bathroom, right? Do you have access to menstrual products? If I have sporadic periods and I, I don’t expect from my period to [00:25:00] start, so it can be very simple.

Um, adding menopause education, I. Into your health and wellness benefits. Could be another example. Not one and done training, but providing educational resources on a regular, ongoing basis. So we’re seeing that ongoing training throughout the year, whether that is an e-learning platform, maybe for retail environments, or maybe it’s folding in speakers.

Maybe that’s online training that they can take. We’ve even seen organizations create menopause hubs. So it is one place internally that employees can go to both male and female, where they find all of the information that they ever wanted to have on menopause, whether that’s your e-learning platform, your resources, the training sessions, for example, how to have a conversation with your healthcare practitioner.

All of which is a part of that membership as well. And then just creating [00:26:00] safe spaces, um, literally and figuratively where open conversations are encouraged, resources are easy to access. And you mentioned ERGs. We see a lot of progress and action within employee resource groups. For smaller organizations, that might not be an ERG, it might be a book club.

It might be a community group where we have a list of recommended books. They pick one for the month and they talk through it. It’s really providing that community support for them so that they have a safe place to talk about it. Those are just a few examples.

Christine: I love all those. I’m jotting some down because, you know, I’m trying to spearhead this, uh, WebMD.

So, and one of the things that we did is our health coaches went through THEDO training. And so to support our employees, we actually had one of our health coaches do a webinar and reiterate [00:27:00] that training basically to all of our employees, and we invited all employees. It was up to you whether you wanted to attend, and it wasn’t just for women, it was for everyone.

And we sort of explained why everyone was being invited too, because this doesn’t just impact the employee. It impacts family, friends, peers. Um, I like the idea of the menopause hub because I know we have a lot of resources that we could leverage and making it more accessible. People feel comfortable when they can just access something, you know, to answer a question they have versus having to ask.

Some individual, ’cause they may not be, you know, comfortable having that, that conversation on the topic.

April: Exactly. Yeah. And I love that you did that within WebMD Health Services. I mean, brilliant. We trained the health coaches who are supporting your clients, but you use that to support your own employees and I think, I think it’s [00:28:00] brilliant and um, you know.

Take note, other organizations, it’s a great idea. You’re utilizing the resources that you already have in place, which is really what we want organizations to do. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It’s really looking at what you currently have in place and then where do we go and what’s the roadmap.

Christine: So you had mentioned, um, cultural change and that it doesn’t happen overnight. I would say we. Say the same thing at Weby Health Services as it relates to wellbeing. You don’t just create a culture of wellbeing by offering a program and then expect that you, you have that culture of wellbeing. So you also shared a lot of great examples of how you can be a menopause friendly workplace, but for companies that are maybe just starting out, would you recommend or say of all those things, here are some of the first steps.

That you should take to really [00:29:00] begin normalizing menopause in your organization?

April: Yeah. Yeah, I would. Um, the best success that we have seen is first to start the conversation. Start the conversation. Have, you know, have a conversation with your HR department. Have a conversation with senior leadership. Get their buy-in first.

We’ve seen the most success with senior leadership. Championing the efforts and then from there, host a training session across all levels of the organization that I mentioned before. It it’s most successful if you have everyone singing off the same song sheet. Everyone has science-based, evidence-based information so that we have a true understanding of not only what is menopause, but what are some of the challenges that individuals face.

And I think the biggest aha is that menopause can happen at any age. Right. It, it doesn’t just happen to old people, as we mentioned before, old ladies, um, [00:30:00] and that it’s, it’s temporary. Yes, menopause symptoms can last up to 10 to 12 years, but when we give the right support to individuals and they can really manage their symptoms.

We can thrive, right? It, it’s, this isn’t a death sentence, so making sure that everyone has a clear understanding, the same understanding of menopause begins to normalize it. And when we say that word out loud, it does, it does amazing things. It know it’s not that hush conversation anymore. Employees are signaled that, oh, it’s okay that for me to talk about this.

My manager’s talking about it. My manager has hint the same. Training that I’ve had, and then make sure that your employees know where they can go get the support. I think, you know, the most challenging things is to have the information and then not know what to do with it. Right now I know what’s happening to my body, but I don’t know where to go to get the support.

So that would [00:31:00] be the next step, right? Talk about it, start the conversation, initialize that training, and then make sure that you’ve signposted where to get the help that they need.

Christine: And if any of you heard some of the words that April has used, science, evidence-based, these are all very similar words that are part of, if you also had to do the same thing for, uh, implementing a wellbeing program.

So one of the things that we work with many of our clients on is even creating a business case that tends to be a very important first step. In wellbeing and really, um, talking with leadership about the adoption of a wellbeing program, which is probably very similar. Organizations might need the same thing when it comes to different menopause programs.

So from your perspective, how would you help a, a client or convince their business leaders who. [00:32:00] As we know, they may see menopause support as what we also like to say, a nice to have instead of a business priority. So how do you convince those leaders.

April: Exactly what you said, Christine. It comes down to the business case.

Um, I mean, we’d love to say we’re, we’re all adopting menopause programming because it’s the right thing to do and it is, it’s the right thing to do, and yet convince things senior leaders to, to spend more money and, and oftentimes. It does take the business case. Um, I often say if you care about talent retention and if you care about productivity and healthcare costs, then you care about menopause.

You’ll care about implementing menopause programming within your organization. Women 50 plus are the fastest growing workplace demographic in the US and several other countries. Menopause symptoms are costing companies. Billions of dollars annually in lost [00:33:00] productivity, absenteeism and turnover. And then we have the millennials who are now bumping up against perimenopause.

And you and I both know that this is a stage where most of the menopause symptoms begin to present, and that generation wants more and demands more. They’ll go elsewhere. If they aren’t getting the support that they need. So when, when leaders realize that providing support isn’t just the right thing to do, but it’s the smart business thing to do, the conversations begin to change and the conversations begin to shift.

And I will say, um, if anyone is. Interested in data and statistics and how to build that business case. We have a link on our website that will take you from step one to step three on how to do that and what to say. There’s a lot of data that is available at your fingertips.

Christine: That’s so valuable, so thanks for pointing that out because [00:34:00] you also should look at the demographics of your organization.

Absolutely. Women that are likely going through menopause are senior leaders within your organization. They, they have a lot of experience within your organization. And some of those statistics also talk about how they are making those have to balance those decisions of can I continue to do my job? Um, and the retention, staying with your organization and that is a, a key consideration and is probably a good metric for your business cases.

April: Absolutely, yeah. Uh, senior leaders, you bet. I mean, that’s midlife. We’re at the height of our career. We’re balancing our high level position. Senior management. Positions, and some of us are caring for elderly parents at the same time. Some of us still have children at home, or we’re launching young adults, and then you throw menopause into the mix and we, we do go into a tailspin oftentimes, and you’re right, [00:35:00] we have to prioritize and we have to make those hard decisions yet.

Some of those simple solutions that we mentioned before can really alleviate that. It, it can help, uh, prevent someone from leaving your organization and pulling that data. I would just say one more side note here, Christine. You know, we often have a tendency to put the blinders on and we’re looking for females that are in their forties and fifties, and yet there’s up to 20% of individuals that will experience menopause.

Early, right. Um, POI, premature ovarian insufficiency can happen anywhere from 12 years old to 40. Um, and then we also have surgical and medical menopause. So anyone that’s going through surgical treatments like hysterectomies, ectomies, cancer treatments, for example, they’re thrown into immediate menopause.

So I would just say make sure you’re folding that data into those surveys and those reports as well. And [00:36:00] men are also a part of this conversation, so don’t forget that, um, you know, people of different gender expressions and identities also experience menopause. And, you know, you could have employees that are sleeping next to someone that is having hot flashes all night.

That person’s not sleeping either. So really have to look at the broad picture here when we’re pulling data.

Christine: So true. And as we think about women’s health. I think organizations do a really good job, many on, uh, fertility preconception, but then as we get to other phases, I know you talked about menstrual health, um, and we’re talking about perimenopause and menopause organizations focus on these as like isolated very separate phases.

Therefore maybe providing benefits or not benefits for certain phases. But we know that these phases don’t, they’re not [00:37:00] happening in silos. And as you kind of just talked about, some of them are very interconnected. So as we think about not holistic health as we talked about it before, but maybe more like the phases of women’s health, how can we do a better job of supporting women?

Through all these phases and not just one. And I think, let’s look at this from the organizational perspective, the workplace. How can you support women through all these different stages?

April: Yeah, I, I think we have to begin by taking, you know, take the blinders off and make sure that we are looking at all life stages as that continuum of health and, and not siloing them out.

So when we sit down with our current benefit plan, for example, and we’re looking at what we currently offer. We often will silo those. Do we have IVF? Do we have support for pregnancy care? And then do I [00:38:00] have, um, can I, can my employees take time off? Right? But we don’t look at all of the life stages as a continuum of health, and we need to begin to look at it that way first.

But I wanna follow that continuum because. Good menstrual health education empowers young women, right? So we know that we need to educate young ladies on menstrual health. Protecting those reproductive rights impacts women autonomy and health outcomes across the lifespan. And then supporting menopause allows women to continue to contribute.

Both personally and professionally in that stage of life. And then beyond. When we say menopause, we really mean the rest of our lives. ’cause we’re in post menopause for the rest of our lives. So you have to really look at that on a continuum. We’re living longer and we’re working longer. We’re in some stage of the menopause, a third to a half of our [00:39:00] lifetimes.

So it’s about building a full seamless framework of support where women are valued and supported at all stages, and not just those childbearing years. Because I mentioned before, it really is right now a cliff that we’re falling off of, if you can think about it that way. We’ve really built this wonderful system of support kind of in the middle.

I still think we have a long way to go in educating young ladies and girls on menstrual health. There are so much that, um, young girls need to know about menstrual health and sexual reproductive health. We’re not doing a great job in schools. Uh, parents aren’t doing a great job in educating. So then we go out into life and we have, um, pregnant, you know, we get pregnant and our workplace supports that, but then we fall off a cliff.

So we can’t, we kind of, it’s kind of the bookends, Christine, that we’re missing. We have this middle piece, uh, really taken care of, [00:40:00] and most organizations are looking at that, but it’s the bookends that we’re missing. So in order to support the whole library, if you will, we have to have the full system in place.

We have to support it on both ends.

Christine: I wanna sort of also bring back what you said before. Men’s health is equally important. Organizations really do a good job about the preventive care, and if we start early. Then it becomes easier for employees to kind of recognize and have the conversations as the next stage comes, or what is my next thing?

Oh, it’s, it’s a mammogram. It’s a pap smear. It’s so really understanding and being comfortable, hopefully talking about the different topics. You know, as I said before, I’m kind of making this transition back to the mental health movement movement, right? Where. Conversations around mental health [00:41:00] in the workplace started to become a little bit more open.

And now when we look at the menopause movement, we’re seeing similar shifts in awareness. But you and I both would agree that there’s still a long way to go. So let’s talk about the parallels in these, these two movements of mental health and menopause if we could, because I think we can learn from the evolution of.

Mental health advocacy so that we can help advance the menopause conversation as well. So from your perspective, you know how, how might we consider building on that momentum? To create a better understanding and support for women that are going through menopause, especially again in the workplace.

April: Yeah.

There are so many parallels, uh, between mental health and menopause. Mental health used to be a taboo subject. It carried a lot of the same stigma and shame that menstrual health and menopause can carry even [00:42:00] today. You know, we’ve been talking about this throughout this episode. People were afraid to speak up and employers really didn’t wanna touch it, and they saw it as a personal problem, but.

People began to, they began to speak up and that the same thing needs to happen with menopause support. And then the data started coming out showing real business impact. I’m kind of taking this back to the business case, Christine, because we need, we have to do that if we’re gonna shift this conversation from.

Mental health or menopause being a personal issue that you go deal with over here in quiet to one that really does belong in the workplace? We have to pull it back to the business case and the business impact that it has. We know that mental health, uh, really takes a toll on absenteeism. It can take a toll on performance, so you can call it presenteeism if you will.

Then there’s the healthcare [00:43:00] costs that are associated with that. If employees aren’t getting the support that they need, it can be devastating for them financially as well as an organization. And so the same thing if we, if, if you take what I just said, you can apply that very thing to menopause. And they’re intertwined because oftentimes women that are experiencing menopause symptoms, we see that mental health is affected as well.

So, you know, as we’ve, as we talk about implementing menopause support within the workplace, and me saying earlier that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, take a look at what your current support is within your organization, mental health is one of them. We hear time and time again that women are struggling with anxiety.

Depression, irritability, and your current EAP programs can really support women through this stage of life for menopause or whether it is a standalone mental health challenge [00:44:00] that they are, uh, that they’re struggling with. So I think it becomes harder to ignore that menopause is indeed taught, not just tied to menopause, but it’s very similar in many, many ways and can have the same financial impact.

Christine: I think we’re gonna learn a lot about how organizations need to think about menopause. Really an integral part of your wellbeing program too. So if we were to look ahead, you know, I would say that organizations are going to evolve their workplace wellbeing programs and make menopause an inclusive, uh, heart.

That, and I know we’ve partnered with mondovia at WebMD Health Services to really help support our clients, um, and support our own employees as well. Um, but I think even going beyond menopause, right? We need to think about [00:45:00] how we make every stage of a woman’s life inclusive of a wellbeing program or anything that is being offered by the organization to their employees.

And I don’t know, I assume you would agree with that too.

April: I absolutely 100% agree. Yes. I’m shaking my head yes. I mean, I marinate in menopause menstrual health all day long, and so of course I’m gonna champion that. However, I picture the future of workplaces, um, the wellbeing being. Comprehensive, holistic, as you mentioned, and we talked about before, um, not just gym memberships.

You know, when we say, um, workplace wellbeing, I think oftentimes we immediately think, oh, gym memberships or mental health days, and those are important, but they, again, it needs to be a piece of the bigger. Puzzle. It’s a full spectrum of support from menstrual health to [00:46:00] fertility, pregnancy, menopause, caregiving, mental health.

I’m just thinking about all the things that we talked about and And chronic disease management, right? I mean, you can fold everything into that, that full spectrum of support. And that’s really what I hope is that we begin to look at women’s health on that continuum and that it is. A holistic approach. I really hope that in five years from now, you know, we’re not having this conversation, we’re celebrating it, and that, um, all organizations have full support on that full spectrum in a holistic, sustainable way.

That’s where the real impact is gonna happen. A

Christine: great thing to say. I love that. Our future goals for women’s health. And specifically menopause. I have one more question for you. Um, Andrea typically would close out each interview with a question that she asked all of our guests. I’m going to mix it up a bit.

[00:47:00] I am going to ask you a question, but I’m not asking the same one. So we are the very first, uh, guest to get this new version. Okay, good. I love it. So April, can you share with our listeners what you personally do to support your

April: own? Hmm, of course. And thank you for asking the question. I feel honored to be the first one.

Um, I will share, if you haven’t learned this already about me, Christine, and working with me. I like structure and I like routine. So for me, I really build that I. Personal wellbeing into my daily routine. When my children were younger, they were not sleepers unfortunately. So I would actually set my alarm so that I could get up early and I would have that just a half hour of time to myself in the quiet so that I could center myself for the day.

And I think my body clock is just used to that. ’cause I get up at 5, 5 30 on my own no matter, you know. What time I go to bed, [00:48:00] but I do try to go to bed early. I try to, to, for that self-care, get the seven to nine hours of sleep each night, and I sit in the dark with just the light of a candle for at least a half hour every morning with my devotion, my journal, um, it’s kind of a combination of a gratitude journal.

I am statement, I write down a few goals and then just kind of free journal and it really does center me for the day. And then I make sure that I’m incorporating exercise and movement because I know that’s important. So, you know, rain, I. Snow, sunshine, sleet. I go out and I walk my dog two to three miles every morning.

Sometimes it’s with the winter coat and the hat and the, you know, reflective bus. And I probably look crazy, but I do it. And I think that that fresh air is really important. At least it is for me to fuel me in so many, many, so many ways. And then, I don’t know if you know this either, about me, [00:49:00] Christine, but I’m also a yoga instructor.

So I practice the daily yoga, but I also teach it. Um, it’s good for, right, the strength, the flexibility, tapping into that parasympathetic nervous system. So, you know, I try to keep that cortisol lowered in that menopause stage, but I get community with it as well. So my students, um, that I teach, I have that Insta community and I found, um, too, and I’ll just kind of leave it here, that.

I really focus on my family and my friends because I realize that community is so important. So I spend time with them, I prioritize them, and I, I have a goal that I write down in that journal every morning, seek joy. Seek joy. Seek joy. So every day I think about seeking joy, like I’m picking a bouquet of, of joy, and I just picture it on my table.

At the end of the day, as a, as this, you know, [00:50:00] floral arrangement, so to speak, I’m a very visual person. So, you know, it might be the little bird that’s saying, it might be the, the Olympic Mountains that I just take a. Just a tad bit more time to look at in the morning, know whatever it is. I just think about that at the end of the day as a bouquet.

So seek joy.

Christine: Seek joy. Well, you are such an inspiring person. Seeking joy, yoga, meditation, menopause. I love it. And I thank you so much for being a guest today. I hope that everyone in HR Benefits leadership, or anyone listening today to this podcast feels inspired to advance the conversation around menopause in their workplace.

With their peers. With their friends. April, you’ve given us all the courage to openly talk about menopause, and for that we thank you so much for being here and sharing your insights with us.

April: [00:51:00] Thank you so much.

Christine: Thank you everyone for listening to my first episode of hosting the HR Scoop podcast, and I hope everyone has a great day.

“Workplaces have made space for pregnancy and mental health. It’s time menopause gets the same support.” 

This episode covers: 

• • What it really means to be a menopause-friendly workplace 
  • Why holistic women’s health must include every life stage 
  • How organizations can normalize the conversation and retain top talent