Almost a quarter of financial services firms have no measures in place to support women experiencing menopause

Almost a quarter (22%) of those working in financial services have said there are no measures in their workplace to support female leaders undergoing menopause. Based on a survey that tries to get under the skin of the negligence of menopausal transition on the part of the financial service.

The professional membership body and registered charity, the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), undertook the survey, which attracted 332 respondents from across the world, including the UK, Europe, Asia and Africa. The respondents belonged to sectors of financial services, including wealth management, operations, compliance, financial planning, capital markets, asset management, corporate finance, risk and Islamic finance.

The CISI relied on a recent report on menopause in the workplace, showing financial services firms losing women from their pipeline of senior leaders because of a lack of workplace support for those women going through menopause. The institute further asked, "Do you believe this has been an issue for your firm?", including a more questions on the type of measures, if any, respondents had in place.

The results were as follows, 44% considered that the lack of workplace support for women undergoing menopause was an issue. Whereas 46% didn't believe it was an issue in their firm and 10% remained neutral in their response.

Shockingly, in terms of the measures arranged to counter this lack of workplace support for female leaders, 15% have flexible working schedules, 11% have a policy, 10% have internal training for all staff or managers training, and 8% have paid leave of absence. Only 6% of the firms have a menopause private medical employee benefit, with 1% having access to support via an app.

Intriguingly, many respondents shared their thoughts on why the firms are not engaging. Some considered gender discrimination as a factor, claiming that it's another form of condescending view towards women. However, others blamed it on a "culture" that can be "ageist".

In addition, others argued that the stigmatisation of menopause caused this passivity on the financial services firms' side. A female worker in a wealth management firm in Asia disclosed how tough it was to endure in silence, and like her, many more have to go through this just because this natural biological phase is pushed under the rug.

Moreover, other respondents pointed towards the lack of proper leadership within the firms. One of the respondents describes the bosses she encountered as "Too young and too much profit-driven". Adding that her former CEO believes that leadership does not coincide with empathy.

Consequently, the lack of support comes hand-in-hand with a crisis. "The financial services sector is facing a huge skills shortage", stressed Claire Tunley, Chief Executive of Financial Services Skills Commission. A recurrent suggestion that many consider beneficial is spreading awareness of the challenges of menopausal transformation.

Workers in the financial service system, about a quarter as estimated, disclosed the lack of support in their firms towards the females going through menopause.