International Women’s Day is a fantastic opportunity to pause and reflect on the incredible women in our lives and our workplaces, but it also acts as a stark reminder to all of us of the long way we still must go to for true equality.

Our Head of People & Engagement, Tom Callow, writes about how his Mum’s early retirement helped shape our Menopause Policy. 

At Bute Energy, it has been more for us than just one day. As well as highlighting some of the great women across our business, it’s also an opportunity to pledge our unwavering commitment to creating a truly inclusive workplace and a standout colleague experience.

As part of that commitment, this week we’ve launched our Menopause Policy and supporting guidance. 59% of those affected by the Menopause say that it has a negative impact at work, and while women make up nearly half of the UK workforce, many feel forced to reduce their hours at work, pass up promotions and even leave their jobs due to lack of support during the menopause.

Our Menopause Policy highlights the support that’s available to anyone experiencing menopause symptoms, whether that’s peri-menopausal, post-menopausal, or symptoms related to surgical menopause. Individual experiences of the menopause differ, so our policy has complete flexibility at its core. As a business, we already have full flexible working to allow our colleagues to shape work around their lives – so increasing support for menopause absolutely spoke to the heart of our culture at Bute Energy. If the pandemic taught us anything, it’s that people don’t need to be working a rigid working week at an office every day – and any change we can make to ensure that our team is inclusive and reflective of the communities it operates in is a no brainer.

The policy supports changes to working patterns and a variation of working hours as needed, reiterating the home working option that’s already in place for all our colleagues. And on a practical level, we’ve made sure that colleagues can control the temperature in our offices, access desk fans, and work in other rooms if needed.  I’m also proud that we have been able to introduce discretionary menopause related leave that can be used to support anyone experiencing symptoms so they can rest and switch off from work.

Most importantly for me, I wanted to make sure that our Menopause Policy is more than just warm words. So we’ve produced guidance and planned workshops to make sure all our colleagues understand the support we can offer, and how to have open, honest and dignified conversations.

To hold ourselves to account, we have also signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge, supported by Wellbeing of Women which demonstrates our total commitment to ensuring employees across the business are well informed, and those experiencing symptoms have access to the right support to suit their individual needs.

Although International Women’s Day comes around once a year, our Menopause Policy is just the first of many provisions designed to support our female workforce, and colleagues more widely, with their health and life events. We are rolling out free sanitary products across our offices and to come is enhanced support for fertility treatment, education and support regarding menstruation, enhanced parental leave and support – inclusive of all different types of parents, support with breastfeeding at work, surrogacy, miscarriage, still-birth, and other bereavement provisions. This is part of our People Plan which recognises that everyone’s experience is different, and I am wholeheartedly committed to supporting and seeing our colleagues through important life events, no matter their circumstances.

On a personal note, International Women’s Day means a huge amount to me. I was brought up by a single mother, supported by an army of strong female role models. My Mum worked for the same employer for her whole life, and as a child I saw her struggle with divorce, caring responsibilities, and later with menopause, sometimes without the support she needed from her employer.  After early retirement, she said that a big part of her decision to finish early was the challenge of balancing life challenges with the demands of work. So, I am extra proud of the things we’re achieving for our people at Bute Energy, and I think of Mum when striving for a more inclusive workplace, a workplace in particular that supports all of our female identifying employees, no matter their stage in life, to reach their full potential.