People have been going through menopause for many thousands of years, but its effect on the workforce only seems to have caught the attention of employers and investors quite recently.
Around 6,000 women in the US reach menopause each day, according to one estimate, and the medical condition has implications for their careers. When Mayo Clinic surveyed 4,440 women aged 45 to 60 in 2021, 13.4% reported experiencing at least one adverse work outcome due to menopause symptoms, while 10.8% reported missing work in the last year. The US loses $1.8 billion annually based on workdays lost due to menopause symptoms, Mayo Clinic estimates.
Perhaps waking up to the myriad costs—both monetary and otherwise—of menopause, more HR departments are doing something about it. This might look like offering menopausal leave, or catering their health plans to cover care for employees dealing with this life transition.
Startups pivot to offer menopause care. Progyny, a benefits provider focused on fertility and family building benefits, recently announced it will partner with Midi Health and Gennev, two menopause providers, to build a specialized network specifically focused on menopause care.
Though one of the most commonly cited symptoms is hot flashes, there are a number of other conditions women might experience and seek treatment for when they’re going through menopause, Janet Choi, chief medical officer at Progyny, told HR Brew. They may also experience changes to their sleep patterns, and are at increased risk for conditions like osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.
Choi noted few primary care residents feel adequately trained to manage menopause, according to one Mayo Clinic survey, which is partly why Progyny thought investing in this care would be worthwhile. “There’s a big gap there that can be fixed and solved with the right, expert advice and knowledge,” she said.
Starting next January, employers will be able to integrate Progyny’s menopause benefit solution into their health plan for a nominal per-employee, per-month fee. The company declined to share more details on their pricing structure.
One company’s investment. Nvidia, a technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, picked up on the same gap in care as Choi through discussions with a community resource group (CRG) focused on women in technology.
“It came to our attention that some of those team members were going through perimenopause or menopause, and they were reaching out and…for some reason they weren’t getting the support that they needed,” said Denise Rosa, benefits manager for Nvidia’s US employees. The company already had a partnership with Peppy, a startup that has offered menopause benefits since 2018, and is available to Nvidia’s UK employees. While Peppy first started offering menopause support in the UK, it has since expanded to work with US employers.
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This January, Nvidia started offering Peppy as an add-on benefit for US employees. Even those who aren’t on a medical plan can use the network, Rosa said. Though it’s early days, Rosa said that Nvidia has received positive feedback from members of the CRG that originally made the case for this care. She added her team will be looking at employee feedback when the benefit is up for renewal next year, as well as keeping their ears to the ground about developments in menopause care (the FDA approved a drug to treat hot flashes and night sweats in May).
Though add-on menopause benefits are primarily a way to address a dearth in comprehensive care, they can also serve as a tool for talent attraction and retention.
Max Landry, Peppy’s co-founder and co-CEO, argues employers should consider how menopause benefits can work in tandem with their DE&I goals, such as closing the gender pay gap and appointing more women to senior leadership positions. Women often experience menopause at a critical time in their careers, when they may be moving into senior and executive roles.
“You really can’t achieve those big DE&I strategic goals without engaging in menopause,” Landry said.
Zoom out. The share of employers offering or planning to offer menopause benefits, grew from 4% in 2022 to 15% in 2023, according to a survey by the consulting firm Mercer.
Historically, founders in the “femtech” space—which refers to software and tech that caters to female biological needs—have steered away from menopause, according to a 2020 report from research firm PitchBook. “As these areas begin to be individually and collectively researched in relation to menopause, startups will be more likely to develop related products,” authors of the report predicted.
Venture capital firms invested $530 million in menopause care in the seven years from 2015 to Q1 2023, according to a report from SJF Ventures, with most funding going toward virtual and hybrid care, as well as “bio-pharmaceutical innovations.” It remains a fairly small subsector of femtech, as startups in this space received $1.9 billion in funding in 2021 alone.
Update 08/22/23: This piece has been edited since it was first published.