ONE of the world’s leading academic researchers on workplace well-being is set to discuss how support can be improved for women experiencing the menopause in North Wales.

Public services union UNISON’s North Wales branch has invited public sector workers, employers and senior figures to the conference in at the OpTIC Centre in St Asaph on Wednesday. It aims to educate and develop policies towards better support for women who are going through the menopause, a naturally occurring condition typically experienced aged 45-55 at the end of menstruation.

The talks will be led by Dr Claire Hardy, a top academic researcher in organisational health and well-being from Lancaster University, alongside employment lawyer Bernie Wentworth and Karen Wright, assistant director of workforce for the Velindre University NHS Trust. Representatives from Denbighshire County Council’s HR department and UNISON’s Denbighshire branch will also deliver workshops.

Jan Tomlinson, UNISON North Wales Health branch secretary, said: “At some stage every woman will go through the menopause and at such a difficult time in our lives, we need the support of family, friends and our employer.

“We are as valuable as men in the workplace and there is a duty on employers to recognise what women are going through and for reasonable adjustments to working conditions to be made.”

Mrs Tomlinson said that when she experienced the menopause she did not have the necessary support.

“I remember a nurse telling me to ‘just get on with it’ and to think of the money I would save with hot flushes and not having to put the heating on!” Mrs Tomlinson said.

She added: “As a society we have to do better than that. Today is about challenging taboos, better educating people about the symptoms and properly supporting women going through the menopause at work.”