First Direct considers menopause-related support integral to its culture and includes male staff within this to create a sense of community and diversity.
The transactional banking firm is part of HSBC UK, along with M&S Bank. It has 1,800 UK-based employees on two sites in Leeds and Glasgow.
As a menopause-friendly accredited organisation, with around two-thirds of its workforce being female, it is conscious of providing a dedicated menopause policy, practical resources, and education, while also encouraging open conversations.
It also targets men within its support. One initiative it held around this was a webinar on World Menopause Day with male senior leadership staff, as well as its Putting the Men in Menopause sessions. It also offers specific training for team managers on the menopause and sensitive community conversations around it.
Chris Pitt, chief executive officer of First Direct, recalls attending a menopause training session after he started in the role and found that he learnt a lot about observing signs and areas where he could have better supported his wife when she experienced it.
“What we’ve encouraged men to do is go along to these things and not think it’s not for them, but to think about it how they can observe and support their mothers, wives or partners and colleagues affected by this,” he says. ”Real-life stories always resonate with people. If we don’t support those going through the menopause, and help men who are supporting people going through the menopause, we’re going to lose a lot of talent.”
First Direct additionally has menopause advocates across the organisation to offer support. While the vast majority are women, a number of men are involved. It also provides access to menopause nurses through Bupa and encourages men who have someone in their family or a colleague affected to reach out to understand how they can better support them.
“Some of the male staff wore heated vests that gave us the experience of a hot flush,” says Pitt. ”This also gave us a sense of the problems and issues that arise due to this and enabled us to magnify that across the business.”
On its intranet, First Direct provides access to menopause-related education, resources, guidance and training through expert-led webinars and podcasts. These cover health-related issues and how employees can have conversations with their managers about situations.
Pitt highlights the importance of making the menopause an open topic of conversation.
“If employees say in meetings or to their colleagues that they experienced brain fog, it’s not something of ridicule,” he says. ”It is something that we just understand that some people go through, and we aim to make that part of how we engage with each other.”
He adds that First Direct is proud to be a menopause-friendly accredited employer and supports Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace.
“We have been a sponsor of The Menopause and Menstruation Friendly Employer Awards ceremony in London. HSBC UK, First Direct and M&S Bank won the menopause-friendly employer of the year – private sector award in 2025,” Pitt says.
