Study of 8,000 Women Finds No Link Between Menopause and Work Outcomes

A nationally representative study of more than 8,000 midlife women has found no association between menopause and poor work function — directly challenging the evidence base for the UK's mandatory workplace menopause policies arriving in April 2027.

The findings, presented last week by Professor Susan Davis at the International Menopause Society's World Congress in Rio de Janeiro, showed menopause was not linked to absenteeism, presenteeism, productivity loss or reduced work ability. The research is still undergoing peer review.

What does the policy currently require?

Under the Employment Rights Act 2025, voluntary menopause action plans launched in April 2026 for employers with more than 250 staff and become mandatory from April 2027, published alongside gender pay gap reports. Plans include menopause "champions" in every workplace and awareness training for all employees, with guidance issued by the Office for Equality and Opportunity.

What did the research find?

Davis, an endocrinologist and clinician-researcher at Monash University Melbourne, leads the Australian Women's Midlife Years (AMY) Study. Her team's 2025 systematic review, published in the journal Menopause, found menopausal status alone was not consistently associated with work outcomes, and that symptom evidence was mixed and possibly confounded by other factors affecting middle-aged women.

The new Rio data compared premenopausal women (average age 44.7) with perimenopausal women (48.2). Both groups had similar socio-demographic profiles, similar jobs and similar reasons for leaving work. The strongest predictors of poor work ability were job dissatisfaction, comorbidities, and moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms — not menopause.

The AMY research concluded that "over-attribution of work difficulties to menopausal symptoms risks widening workplace gender inequalities."

Where did the 900,000 figure come from?

The Women and Equalities Committee's 2022 report, which recommended menopause become a protected characteristic, cited Bupa research that "almost 900,000 women in the UK had left their jobs because of menopausal symptoms." Davis told The Times that figure was extrapolated from a survey of just 1,000 women — a survey that also counted women leaving jobs because they were pregnant.

"That's not menopause," Davis said. "People were going to politicians and saying, 'Oh, there's this terrible problem about menopause in the workplace. All these women are leaving work.' There's no evidence."

She described the government's measures as "ahead of the knowledge": "The policies have been driven by emotion and insufficient fact. I believe in evidence. I am all for health policy based on data. And if you have a health or workplace policy not based on data, there is the potential for long-term harm."

Why does study design matter?

Dr Jen Gunter, a gynaecologist and author who attended the Rio congress, wrote on her Substack that the AMY survey's framing was "very important". Because it was advertised as a midlife survey rather than a menopause-at-work survey, it avoided topic salience bias — the self-selection effect that inflates prevalence and severity estimates.

"If we want a true picture of menopause, we need to hear from a sample that represents all women," Gunter wrote.

What are the risks for women in the labour market?

Davis warned the policy focus could backfire on hiring: "I'm strongly against this whole focus on perimenopause in the workplace. It will stop people wanting to employ women between the ages of 45 and 55."

"People worried about employing a 35-year-old woman because they're going to get pregnant. They used to think a 50-year-old woman was reliable. Now they're going to be seen as dynamite."

Gunter added that the AMY study "suggests that midlife is not a single variable experience governed completely by menopause, and we need more data before we attribute workplace difficulties to perimenopause or menopause" — with follow-up studies expected once the full paper is published.