“You can get to this age and stage in life and feel invisible . . .
But now I feel seen.”
Krystine
QBE employee participating in the Menopause at Work® Program
We love the opportunity to showcase the collaborative efforts of our clients and partners to shift the dial on family-friendly workplace culture.
QBE is a founding partner of Family Friendly Workplaces and proudly one of the first organisations to be certified as a Family Inclusive Workplace. Menopause at Work® Asia Pacific provides leading edge services for many of our clients, supporting them to become menopause friendly through advisory services and workplace programs for employees, managers and leaders.
With Women’s Health Week and World Menopause Day only a few months away, we invite you to read this piece by Thea O’Connor from Menopause at Work® about how QBE is leading the charge when it comes to providing comprehensive menopause support in the workplace and how this has fostered openness and support among colleagues, emphasised the strengths of post-menopausal women, and encouraged men, including senior leaders, to engage in conversations about menopause.
When Krystine received an email from her employer QBE Insurance about a new menopause support program, she applied immediately. The night sweats, sleep deprivation, brain fog and emotional ups and downs were beginning to affect her confidence and trigger career-limiting thoughts. “I was thinking that I couldn’t do my job anymore or that I needed to cut back,” Krystine admits.
QBE’s menopause support includes a sponsored place in a seven-week program created by Menopause at Work®, as well as education events, awareness-raising efforts, a menopause workplace guide, an internal social media channel, and four extra days of paid leave. These resources have given Krystine the confidence to manage her symptoms better and maintain her job performance. “Now if I have a bad day, instead of catastrophizing, I simply make adjustments,” she says.
Flexible work arrangements have also been crucial. “If I’ve been awake half the night, I know I can start a little later and take rest breaks if I need to. The four extra flex days feel like a safety net,” Krystine explains.
“You can get to this age and stage in life and feel invisible” says Krystine, “But now I feel seen.”
Felicity Ford, a partner manager at QBE, shares a similar story. Her menopause was induced by medical treatment for breast cancer, and QBE’s support has allowed her to be open about her experience. “I talk about it with my colleagues, which has helped older women open up and younger women ask me things that they haven’t talked about with their mothers,” Felicity says.
Felicity also participated in the menopause program, known as The Orca Effect, which emphasises the leadership qualities of post-menopausal women. “We older women are oracles of information and experience, so why shouldn’t we be valued for it?” Felicity asks. Since completing the program, she has applied for a new role, realising she didn’t have to let health challenges hold back her career.
“QBE has evolved immensely over time,” she reflects. “Our next step will be to engage more senior leaders and more men.”
QBE’s Senior Manager of Organisational Capability, Colin Sargent, has already demonstrated his willingness to show up and support his company’s menopause initiative. Invited by the Diversity, Inclusion, and Wellbeing team, Colin shared a male perspective at one of QBE’s ‘M Cafes,’ discussing the impact of his partner’s medically induced menopause. “I am very experienced at speaking in public, but this was the single hardest talk I’ve ever given,” Colin says. “I just didn’t feel I had a right to talk about this in a space where I felt like an outsider.”
As uncomfortable as it was to be a ‘male voice,’ preparing for the M Café forum opened up new conversations between Colin and his partner and unlocked discussions with his team. “It helped me better understand her experience and allowed me to speak openly with my team about what was happening,” Colin explains. “I think that kind of openness from leaders is a healthy thing to role model.”
Anu Wettasinghe, QBE’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Wellbeing Manager, emphasises that the main goal of QBE’s menopause support is to normalise the diverse life experiences our people have and encourage conversations so people don’t have to suffer in silence. “It’s not just about launching; it’s also about embedding,” says Anu, who is focussed on continued awareness raising so that more people will feel comfortable to speak up and seek support.
Inspired by their colleagues in the UK, QBE AUSPAC has been building out its menopause support over the last couple of years, backed by a strong global commitment to creating an inclusive workplace where people feel valued, a sense of belonging, and safe to seek support at different stages of their life and career.
Key initiatives include:
QBE’s menopause support initiatives are ongoing, with ‘M Cafes’ continuing into 2024 and beyond.
Parents At Work acknowledge and pay respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
