This week, I tuned into ABC Radio to hear the marvellous Jean Kitson discussing the importance of educating staff about the challenges of menopause in the workplace – this being one of the last workplace taboos. Why? Because it’s very likely that some of the senior and valuable members of any given organisation may be experiencing the challenging symptoms of menopause and what looks like a person flustered and not in control of the agenda is just a person undergoing a normal and healthy process.
As a society, we have gone some way to breaking down social stigmas and prejudices around gender, sexuality and mental illness but for women experiencing menopause, this can still be an isolating and embarrassing experience. Education is an essential step toward understanding and a supportive workplace means happy and productive staff.
As developers of an online learning tool VidVersity, we want to empower organisations to easily create content within and for their organisations. Health and well-being topics are ideally suited to an online, interactive format. This enables content to be curated in a sensitive way and widely delivered within an organisation.
Video your staff sharing their personal experiences, video experts talking about how individuals are affected by anxiety, depression, pregnancy, menopause, divorce and separation.
Record your senior staff members and your HR team discussing how the organisation supports the staff. Edit the video into easily accessible chapters. Add resources such as web links, printable notes and links to external resources. Provide the opportunity for anonymous user surveys at the end of the course. And remember, the VidVersity platform is designed so even the non-technically minded can utilise it and course content can be created in a matter of hours.
Provide this as part of your annual health and well-being programme, as part of your induction programme or just as a readily accessible resource.
It’s so easy to create this content using video and to deliver this to your staff within your Learning Management System or by simply using a shareable link.
So next time, a woman is looking a little hot and bothered in a meeting, rest assured, she’s not flustered about the meeting, she has that covered. She just might need the air-conditioning on! A little education and understanding will go a long way.
