Last summer, I was invited into a City law firm to talk to their staff about menopause and movement. I gave a short talk, we opened it up for questions, and then — resistance bands in hand — around 25 women did a short workout together in the middle of their workday.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. What I got was one of the most energising sessions I’ve run: sharp, direct questions about training through hot flushes and brain fog, women who’d never done resistance work admitting they felt strong by the end of 12 minutes, and a genuine appetite to keep going once the session ended.
That’s the part that mattered most. It wasn’t a one-off. I built tailored workout programmes through the FemVital app for the women who wanted to continue — some training in the firm’s own gym, others at home around childcare and case deadlines. I’m going back after the summer to do it again.
Why this matters more than most workplaces realise
Menopause at work isn’t a niche issue. According to CIPD’s research, 67% of women say menopause symptoms have had a mostly negative effect on their work, and over half (53%) have had to miss work entirely because of their symptoms at some point. Seventeen percent have considered leaving their job specifically because of a lack of support — and 6% already have.
Yet only around a quarter of organisations have any kind of menopause policy or support measures in place. Nearly half don’t, or don’t know if they do.
The business case is just as stark. Recent industry data puts the average productivity loss during perimenopause and menopause at around 5.5 working days a year per affected employee, with 31% of women reporting a drop in productivity and 28% actively considering leaving their role. Almost half have quietly changed how they work to cope — reducing hours, cutting responsibilities, or turning down promotions they’d otherwise have taken.
Here’s the part that should make any employer sit up: 91% of women say they’d be more likely to stay with an employer that actively supports their midlife health needs. This isn’t a cost center. It’s a retention strategy that most companies simply aren’t using yet.
Nutrition came up too
The Q&A didn’t stay on training for long — nutrition questions came thick and fast, which is exactly what I’d expect from a room full of women navigating this transition.
We talked about protein first, because it’s the thing most women are quietly under-eating. Through perimenopause and beyond, research points to somewhere around 1.0–1.2g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day — spread across meals at roughly 20-25g a time — to protect muscle mass, support bone density, and help with satiety and blood sugar regulation. That’s meaningfully more than most general dietary guidance suggests, and it’s not about bodybuilding — it’s about protecting the muscle and metabolism you already have as oestrogen drops.
Fibre came up next: fruit, vegetables, and whole foods doing the quieter work of supporting gut health, blood sugar stability, and hormone metabolism — the unglamorous foundation that makes everything else work better.
And then, inevitably, someone asked about creatine. I explained why it matters specifically for women at this stage — the science behind muscle protein synthesis, bone health, and even the emerging research on cognitive function — the same ground I’ve covered in more depth in my creatine resource guide if anyone wants the full picture.
What a session like this actually looks like
I keep it simple and practical, because that’s what actually lands in a workplace setting:
A short, honest talk on what’s actually happening in the body during perimenopause and menopause — physiologically, not just symptom-by-symptom.
An open Q&A, which is usually where the real value happens. Women ask what they’ve never felt able to ask anyone else, in a room where everyone else is nodding along.
A short, accessible workout — resistance bands, no gym required — so people leave with something they’ve actually done, not just something they’ve heard.
An option to continue with a tailored programme afterward, through the app, wherever they happen to be training.
If this is something your workplace needs
If you’re in HR, or you just know your team could use this conversation, I’d love to bring this into your workplace the way I did at that City firm last summer. Book a call at femvital.co.uk/contact, or reach me directly on WhatsApp at wa.me/447842748623.
By Marleen Konijnenberg — BSc Pharmacology, King’s College London | Certified Personal Trainer & Menopause Coach
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