It’s been a long, hot summer and the workplace is no exception.
Conversations around menopause and its effects on women working at offices across the country have become more routine in recent years and critical to whether or not employees feel supported when they show up each morning.
According to the National Institutes of Health, menopausal transition often begins for women between the ages of 45 and 55 and can take between seven to 14 years. More than 1 million women experience menopause each year.
Recognizing this trend, TBWA\Chiat\Day NY’s Health Collective announced this week that it partnered with the Menopause Information Pack for Organizations (MIPO) to launch The Hot Resignation.
This campaign is aimed at empowering employees and drawing the attention of human resources leaders to resignations related to menopause.
The Hot Resignation, which has its own website, features a downloadable toolkit filled with free resources to make workplaces more supportive of those going through menopausal transition. Additionally, employees and employers can download #HotResignation symptom GIFs for their LinkedIn channels.
This effort seeks to break the stigma around menopause, which is widely recognized but not well understood, and foster broader conversations around the condition in the workplace.
“Menopause is an issue so many women in the workforce deal with, but companies lack the policies to address its most disruptive symptoms,” said Amie Miller, worldwide chief talent officer at TBWA Worldwide, in a statement. “Putting menopause on the workplace agenda is simply good business, especially as it relates to attracting a valuable talent pool and helping women feel supported in being their best selves at work.”
In announcing Hot Resignation, the two organizations cited a recent study from the Mayo Clinic that estimated $1.8 billion are lost in work time each year as a result of menopausal women leaving their jobs due to a lack of supportive policies.
Notably, some organizations have been proactive in combating menopausal stigmatization and enacting policies to make workers feel welcome.
Genentech has emerged as one of the many companies starting to adopt menopause benefits as they work on recruiting and retaining female employees. The biotech has expanded health benefits to cover menopause as Millennials begin to enter perimenopause, TIME recently reported.
There has also been some recent progress on the regulatory front when it comes to treating menopause. In mid-May, the Food and Drug Administration approved Veozah, Astellas Pharma’s oral, nonhormonal compound for treating menopause-related symptoms.
For a March 2024 about Rootless’ menopause PSA, click here.