With many people having to adjust to the side effects of disruptions to their HRT treatments caused by the current shortages in HRT supplies, employers should also be thinking about their obligations to consider adjustments too.
These shortages are predicted to last into the rest of summer, at least, with many pharmacies having run out completely of supplies that enable people even to sleep, let alone work competently.
Even those who are able to access HRT may not be able to get their usual prescription, affecting hormone stability hugely, and so the impact on the significant proportion of the workforce who suffer from perimenopause or menopause symptoms is huge.
Be alert to this – to support your staff but also to reduce the risk of costly discrimination claims.
Here are some useful tips to consider for all employers:
- Encourage a culture of openness – be proactive, don’t wait for staff to approach you – get in there first by updating your menopause policy to refer to this (or getting one in place if you haven’t already!) and offer recognition and extra support for the wide-ranging and often debilitating symptoms staff may be experiencing.
- Consider short-term working adjustments to help staff manage symptoms. These will differ from person to person – it is a very personal thing - and so make sure staff feel able to approach you with any needs they may have. This is important with the menopause generally, amplified by this shortage in supplies.
- Communicate this – let staff know they can come to you for discreet and supportive conversations if they need to. Give them easy and clear ways to do this.
- Be flexible with requests to take time out of work for medical appointments – whilst your policy may provide for you to refuse time out during working hours for appointments, treat this as an extenuating circumstance if you can. You don’t have to pay for that time out, that is up to you, but do consider it and only refuse to agree the time out if business needs are really pressing.
- Be flexible if your staff ask you for some time out to pick up HRT prescriptions too - whilst the local pharmacy might have run out, your employee may have managed to source some at a different pharmacy some distance away and so try and enable this where at all possible – this might be the difference between them getting it or not. If this means a couple of hours out of the working day, this could make a huge difference to that person so don’t dismiss this out of hand.
- Think about liaising with any partner organisations you may have links with – could a private GP as part of your employee medical scheme offer access to supplies? Give them a bell and see if this could be something you can offer staff in this short term. Explore different avenues like this if there are any available.
Giving that extra support at this time will generate good relations which, we all know, is important in keeping your workforce stable. But it will also protect you and your organisation - menopause might not be an Equality Act protected characteristic in itself but it still opens the door for staff to raise claims of discrimination (sex, age, disability etc) and so the cost of getting this wrong can be significant! A few small adjustments and some additional flexibility will hugely reduce this risk.