The Experience Dividend

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Here are the facts: 55 million women in the U.S., 2 million more each year, 20 percent of the overall workforce … and growing.

These stats refer to the menopause journey and you’d think they would mean every organization has this stage of life on its radar. And when you consider every woman will experience the menopause journey if she lives long enough, you really have to wonder why it isn’t.

There is a second reason to wonder and it has to do with judgment accumulated over years of leading. Judgment is not a shortcut.

Now consider who this affects — women in their mid-40s. That finding presents organizations with a judgment question of their own.

What is menopause?

Menopause itself is the single day when a person has gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period. It represents the end of the reproductive stage of life.

But this stage of life actually is a journey. It typically begins in the mid-40s in perimenopause, but 6 percent of women experience the onset of menopause when they are younger than 45. It continues for the rest of a woman’s life in post-menopause.

The Menopause Journey x Career Trajectory

According to the Society for Women’s Health Research, for most women the menopause transition arrives when they are at the peak trajectory of their career: senior leadership roles, profit and loss ownership, board seats and perhaps the last big promotion or two before retirement planning begins. 

This timing is a certainty leaders can ill afford to overlook or ignore. It’s a signal about where some of an organization’s most seasoned talent sits and what it will take to recruit and retain that segment of the workforce. Paying attention to it means women who are already succeeding continue to contribute to the economic health of a company’s bottom line and a deeper bench of talent in the pipeline.

 The Judgment Years: What the data says about women in this career stage

When many people hear the word menopause, what often comes to mind is a woman in her 50s who is sweating, moody and faltering in her work performance 

The reality is quite different. 

Women in the age band that overlaps with the menopause journey are an extraordinary cohort. They are among the organization’s strongest decision-makers.

The research below is usually seen as leadership effectiveness — read it as evidence of judgment.

• Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman have found a consistent pattern: Women rated as more effective leaders than men on 17 of 19 leadership competencies (including taking initiative, driving for results, practicing self-development, resilience and integrity) and the overall gap between men’s and women’s leadership effectiveness ratings was larger than in the pre-pandemic data, suggesting women’s leadership advantage may become more pronounced, not less, under pressure. 
• Much of that leadership edge traces back to skills that have been historically designated as “soft,” but which turn out to be quite hard and invaluable. A large-scale study by the Hay Group/Korn Ferry, drawing on data from 55,000 professionals across 90 countries and using the Emotional and Social Competency Inventory, found women outperformed men in emotional self-awareness and empathy, coaching and mentoring, influence, inspirational leadership, conflict management, organizational awareness, adaptability and teamwork. There’s a direct correlation between high emotional intelligence and the leaders who deliver stronger business results, which makes this data a business case as much as one about leadership capabilities.
• Gallup’s analysis of 27 million employees across 195 countries found female managers also outscored male managers on engagement measures. 

Additional research tells a parallel story about what happens when more women hold leadership roles overall. Studies by McKinsey, BCG and Cloverpop found respectively that gender diversity:

• Was linked to stronger financial performance
• Meant 19 percent higher revenue related to innovation 
• Made good decisions 25 percent more often

These facts don’t change because the menopause journey begins. A leader’s track record for driving results, building trust and developing her team doesn’t reset because she’s navigating a hormonal transition. What changes is whether the environment around her is built to support that track record. 

The cost of getting this wrong

A 2023 Mayo Clinic study of more than 4,400 women found the U.S. economy loses an estimated total of $26.6 billion a year in health costs and lost productivity/missed days at work ($1.8 billion) tied to unmanaged menopausal symptoms, with 13 percent of them experiencing an adverse work outcome.

A 2024 Society for Women’s Health Research study discovered one in four women considered turning down or didn’t pursue, a leadership opportunity because of menopausal symptoms and two in five considered leaving or actually left their jobs.

A 2025 Kaiser Family Foundation employer survey found only 13 percent of companies with 5,000 or more employees offered menopause-specific benefits. And the percentage fell the smaller the size of the workforce.

Deloitte found that at companies it identified as “gender equality leaders,” 62 percent of women say they plan to stay with their employer more than three years, compared with just 13 percent at organizations that lag on gender equity.

Read those numbers as a significant problem, because that’s what they represent. 

Reasons why a menopause-friendly workplace makes sense

Did you know?

• Besides the risk of losing peak performers, there is an additional workplace phenomenon that isn’t as visible. Not quiet quitting, but quiet retreat. Many women take themselves out of the mix of opportunities for promotion, high-profile initiatives and more expansive leadership roles because of the impact of untreated symptoms.
• WebMD Health Services’ 2025 Menopause in the Workplace Study found nearly 70 percent of women believe employers have a responsibility to offer menopause support and more than 50 percent said menopause-specific benefits would make them feel genuinely more supported at work and positively change how they view their employer altogether.
• Twenty-six states have passed menopause-specific legislation or have bills in play and in July 2026, a bill was introduced at the federal level. 

Providing the type of support and resources women need during the menopause journey doesn’t have to be a heavy lift and there are many options to successfully address their symptoms and new-onset health risks. 

Organizations that exercise judgment and take action are positioning themselves to attract and keep the experienced, high-performing talent pool every company is competing for.

Left unsupported, you’re funding your competitor’s leadership bench.

The menopause journey is an opportunity hiding in plain sight.

Besides the opportunity to reduce turnover and pipeline leakage of key talent, there are compelling bonuses most organizations leave on the table. Increased productivity. Lower healthcare costs. Improved health and well-being. Reduced risk of both physical and mental health chronic conditions, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome, depression, anxiety and osteoporosis. And an increased return on investment of preexisting care, disease management and employee assistance programs. 

In 2026, there is no reason for women to suffer from symptoms for which there are solutions. 

Their physical and mental health shouldn’t take a nosedive because they weren’t educated about the effect the hormonal changes during the menopause journey can have on their body. 

And women shouldn’t have to stay silent because of what can be well-founded fear their career will be negatively impacted by erroneous assumptions about their abilities, simply because they’ve entered a new life stage.

Concrete steps organizations can take now

Supporting the menopause journey isn’t complicated and it doesn’t require reinventing benefits infrastructure. 

It does mean expectations set at the C-suite level that ripple through every level of the organization.

• Implement a menopause policy distinct from general wellness language. It communicates this is a natural life stage like any other, not a private problem employees have to hide and solve alone and that women’s needs are taken seriously.
• Enhance healthcare coverage and workplace flexibility. Provide access to and coverage of care by menopause-trained clinicians (or those with a track record of expertise and experience) and treatment options, including virtual consultations, hormone therapy, non-hormonal medications, evidence-based integrative modalities like acupuncture, hybrid work options and environmental accommodations.
• Normalize the conversation. Employee resource groups, such as “menopause journey champions,” and open internal communication reduce the stigma and stereotypes. Organizations that have taken these steps report their action strengthens trust as well as employee satisfaction and morale.
• Train managers specifically. Focused manager training — covering what to say, what adjustments are reasonable and how to apply them consistently and where to route someone for support and resources — reduces the likelihood of a legal risk management issue and shortens the time it takes for employees to get the help they need.

Reframing the story to reflect reality. Women within the menopause journey age band are, by most performance measures, among the most effective leaders in an organization. The question to be answered is whether the workplace is built to support, keep and enable them to thrive.

It took decades for pregnancy to be destigmatized and supported through benefits, education, workplace policies and for a culture to develop that (generally) no longer holds a woman’s reproductive stage in the life cycle against her. Though they might not have realized it at the time, companies lost the benefits which accrue to a gender-diverse workplace with women in leadership positions.  

Let’s not make the same mistake again when it comes to those with some of the best judgment in an organization.

Categories: Business, Health and Medicine