Menopausal symptoms can contribute to women deciding to leave their jobs early, not put themselves forward for specialist posts or promotion, or feel excluded in the workplace - thus affecting the diversity of teams within their organisations.
Employers have responsibilities for the health and safety of all their employees, but additionally there are business reasons for proactively managing an age-diverse workforce. Some employers have been slow to address that women of menopausal age may need specific considerations and many employers still do not yet have clear processes to support women coping with menopausal symptoms.
In response to these issues, a pioneering student at Nottingham Trent University (NTU) has founded ChangeXtra, an online platform and app that offers support for women in menopause. Claire Mann's innovation has earned her a position in the final of the Engineers in Business Innovation Competition.
For World Menopause Day, Nottingham Trent University shared news about Claire's achievement and focus within the area of supporting women in menopause.
Creating a community of women
ChangeXtra is on a mission to get people talking about the menopause. Through the app and online platform, Claire has created a community of women to support each other through positive change.
ChangeXtra offers appointments with menopause mentors who support women to take a positive approach to the changes in their life, while a health tracking and self-care app will help users monitor menopause symptoms and make informed choices about positive change.
"Engineers and entrepreneurs are problem-solvers at heart, we see a logical link between the two. That’s why it’s important to us to enable engineers to access the tools and skills that help enterprise happen, that way we can help support the next generation of engineers that understand design and development combined with trends and market analysis," explains Megan Powell Vreeswijk, Head of Enterprise at Nottingham Trent University.
Inspire change at Nottingham Trent University
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Disclosure: Where Women Work researches and publishes insightful evidence about how its paid member organizations support women's equality.