How Lack of Workplace Support Fuels Attrition for Women in Menopause Transition

Here’s the thing.

Women aren’t leaving work because they suddenly lose ambition in their 40s and 50s. They’re leaving because work stops working for them.

Across organisations, a quiet but costly pattern keeps repeating. Highly skilled, experienced women disengage, reduce hours, or exit entirely during perimenopause and menopause. Not because they want to. Because the system around them refuses to adapt.

What’s really happening at work

Menopause isn’t a single moment.

It’s a multi-year neurological, hormonal, and metabolic transition. And yet, most workplaces treat it as either a private issue or, worse, a non-issue.

Here’s what women routinely deal with at work during this phase:

• Brain fog mistaken for loss of capability

• Sleep disruption leading to fatigue and burnout

• Anxiety spikes interpreted as confidence issues

• Hot flushes, migraines, joint pain handled in silence

• Performance conversations with no clinical context

  
  

Now layer this onto high-pressure roles, long meetings, rigid schedules, and zero psychological safety to speak up. What this really means is that women are being evaluated without the full picture.

Awareness gaps become attrition drivers

When managers lack awareness, they fill the gap with assumptions. When policies don’t exist, women self-manage at personal cost. When support is absent, exit becomes the safest option.

Attrition during menopause transition is rarely dramatic. It looks like:

• A senior woman stepping back “voluntarily”

• A high performer declining stretch roles

• A leader quietly opting for early retirement

• A resignation framed as “personal reasons”

  
  

Organisations often label this as a pipeline problem. It isn’t. It’s a support problem.

The cost organisations underestimate

Replacing experienced women is expensive. But the real loss is deeper.

You lose institutional memory.

You lose mentorship for younger women.

You lose diversity at decision-making tables.

You lose credibility on inclusion commitments.

And all of this happens while the solution remains relatively simple.

What meaningful support actually looks like

Support doesn’t mean medicalising the workplace. It means normalising reality.

Effective organisations are starting to:

• Educate leaders and managers on menopause transition

• Introduce simple, flexible adjustments without stigma

• Build psychological safety so women can ask for support early

• Treat menopause as a retention and wellbeing issue, not a personal one

When awareness rises, self-blame drops. When language improves, performance stabilises. When women feel understood, they stay.

Why this matters now

Women in menopause transition often sit at the peak of their professional value. Losing them isn’t inevitable. It’s optional.

Attrition is not the cost of menopause. Silence is.

At Dr Pause, we work with organisations to shift this conversation from discomfort to capability. Because when women are supported through transition, they don’t step back.

They step forward.

If your organisation is serious about retaining women, this is where the work begins.