Leicestershire Businesses: Your Next Big Compliance Deadline Has a Menopause Dimension.

From April 2027, the Employment Rights Act will require larger employers to prepare Action Equality Plans. Menopause must be on the agenda. And while that might sound like another piece of legislation to file under 'sort it later', I'd gently suggest that the organisations already moving on this will have a significant advantage over those that aren't.

I'm Joanne Pagett, a Performance and Menopause Coach based right here in Leicestershire, and I've spent several years helping businesses, from local SMEs to larger regional organisations, build menopause strategies that are practical, human, and genuinely used. Not filed away.

Here's what every Leicestershire employer with a female workforce over 40 needs to know.

1 in 10 women has left her job because of menopause symptoms. In a tight regional labour market, that's talent your business can't afford to lose.

The Business Case. And Why It Matters Even More Locally

The East Midlands has a proud working culture, and Leicestershire businesses in particular tend to be close-knit. You often know your people. You've built teams over years, sometimes decades. Which is exactly why the menopause conversation matters so much here.

Over 75% of menopausal women are currently in the workforce. In the UK, around 900,000 women have left work due to menopause symptoms. That's not an abstract national statistic; some of those women worked for businesses just like yours.

The women most affected are typically aged 45 to 60. They're often your most experienced people. Your team leaders, your department heads, your long-serving customer-facing staff who hold relationships together. When they leave, they leave because of something that could have been addressed; you don't just lose a person. You lose everything they carry with them.

The cost of replacing a single employee ranges from 50% to 200% of their annual salary, according to CIPD research. For smaller regional businesses, that's not just inconvenient. It's genuinely damaging.

• 900,000 women in the UK have left work due to menopause symptoms (CIPD, 2023)
• 1 in 10 women have left their jobs specifically because of menopause symptoms (British Menopause Society)
• 75%+ of menopausal women are currently in the workforce
• 50–200% of annual salary — the estimated cost of replacing a single employee (CIPD)

Beyond the financial case, there's the cultural one. Leicestershire's business community is increasingly values-led. If you're working towards B Corp certification, holding DEI commitments, or simply trying to be the kind of employer people want to work for, menopause support is part of that story.

Having a Policy Isn't the Same as Having a Strategy

I want to be straight with you about something. Most businesses that think they have menopause 'covered' don't. What they have is a paragraph tucked into a wellbeing document that nobody can find, written by someone who's never had to manage symptoms in a meeting, approved by a leadership team that breathed a small sigh of relief and moved on.

That's not a strategy. That's a document.

A genuine menopause strategy means your managers know how to have the conversation. It means your women in operational roles, on shop floors, in schools, in care settings, have practical support, not just a written policy they've never seen. It means the culture is safe enough that a woman experiencing symptoms doesn't feel she has to mask them or disappear quietly.

The smallest things carry the loudest message. One business I worked with introduced a five-minute break policy for women in operational roles. Three weeks to implement. Changed everything.

What Good Looks Like. Across Every Part of Your Business

Leadership and HR

• Embed menopause into existing policies: absence, flexible working, performance, and reasonable adjustments
• Appoint a genuine Menopause Champion: someone visible, credible, and briefed
• Set measurable KPIs: retention, training completion, champion activity
• Include menopause in DEI reporting

Line Managers

• Real training: not a 20-minute e-learning module clicked through on a lunch break
• A practical conversations guide: what to say, how to open the door, what not to say
• Clear escalation routes so no manager feels like they're navigating this alone

Individuals

• Access to coaching and peer support
• Signposting to clinical resources and specialist menopause guidance
• Flexible working discussed proactively: not as a last resort

Operational and Non-Office Teams

Often the most overlooked group, and often where the most practical adjustments make the biggest difference:

• Scheduled rest breaks during peak symptom times
• Access to fans, cold water, and temperature-regulated spaces
• Rota flexibility where possible
• Discreet uniform options, yes, it's a real conversation, and it matters

Why a Local Coach Makes a Difference

There are plenty of consultants who will send you a policy template and a slide deck. That's not what I do.

I'm based in Leicestershire. I know this business community. And I bring something that a generic national provider doesn't: the combination of lived experience, professional expertise, and genuine commitment to the women and organisations in this region.

My background is in corporate senior leadership, where I spent years as a Menopause Champion inside organisations, building policies from the inside out. I know what the resistance looks like. I know the HR conversations, the leadership hesitancy, and the women who have been quietly masking symptoms for so long that they've started to believe it's just how things are.

I'm also a qualified Menopause Wellness Practitioner, an ICF-certified Life Coach, and an NLP Practitioner. I was a multi-award-winning Menopause Coach at the GHP Women’s Health Awards UK 2025. And I've been a competitive bodybuilder, which surprises people, but it matters. Because my own transformation in my late 40s and 50s is what shaped my understanding of what women's bodies and minds are capable of at this stage of life, when they're properly supported.

I don't do tick-box. I do real change.

What Working With Me Looks Like for Your Business

Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to strengthen what you already have, the starting point is usually a structured diagnostic. Here's what that involves:

• An initial scoping call to understand your organisation's size, structure, and current position
• A policy and document audit, what exists, what's missing, what needs updating ahead of April 2027
• A confidential employee survey or facilitated focus group, designed so people tell you the truth
• A written recommendations report with prioritised next steps and a clear delivery roadmap

From there, we can move into delivery: manager training, individual coaching for women experiencing symptoms at work, Champion community support, or ongoing strategic partnership as your plan develops. You don't have to do everything at once. You do have to start.

The women who've built your business deserve more than a policy nobody can find. They deserve a workplace that works for them, and so do you.

Ready to Talk? Let's Start With a Conversation.

If you're an HR lead, business owner, or senior leader in Leicestershire, thinking 'we need to get ahead of this', you're right, and I'd love to be your first call. I work with local businesses to develop menopause strategies that are practical, evidence-based, and tailored to your people and culture.

Get in touch to book a diagnostic scoping call, and let's work out exactly where your organisation needs to go.

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.joannepagett.co.uk

About Joanne Pagett

Joanne Pagett is a Leicestershire-based Performance & Menopause Coach, Workplace Strategist, ICF-certified Life Coach, NLP Practitioner, and qualified Menopause Wellness Practitioner. A multi-award winner at the GHP Women’s Health UK Awards 2025, she draws on her senior leadership corporate background and, as a Menopause Champion, has created workplace menopause policies from the inside, alongside her own transformation into a competitive bodybuilder in her late 40s and 50s.

She is the creator of the StrongHer FAB Method and founder of StrongHer, coaching and supporting women in business and organisations who want to lead well at every stage. She works with local and national businesses to build menopause strategies that are practical, people-centred, and used.