Mansfield Building Society has been awarded menopause-friendly accreditation by Henpicked: Menopause In The Workplace.
In order to achieve accreditation, the building society had to demonstrate evidence of its effectiveness in culture, policies and practices, training, engagement and working environment.
The support that the building society established and developed for its 130 employees includes training all executives, managers and team leaders on how to manage menopause in the workplace, in order to give them the tools they need to support their staff. The course was then adapted to focus on the topic of managing the menopause, which was open to all employees.
It also supported workplace menopause champions to host a menopause café three times a year, to boost awareness, and normalise and encourage open conversations.
The building society also created a policy that supported the needs of employees working through the condition. This included paid leave for staff, instead of assigning the absence as sick leave, which it stated felt inappropriate and inaccurate for the situation.
According to the building society, the training was the most important and influential initiative, because it started the breakdown of barriers and introduced education, which led to understanding and awareness. Its learning and development specialist, Bob Crowe, headed up the training and awareness initiatives.
Vickie Preston, head of people at Mansfield Building Society, said: “We care about the wellbeing of our employees and it’s important to us that we support them throughout their employment and through life’s changes and challenges. We are committed to putting people first and that is why it was important to us to become menopause-friendly accredited.”
“Bob has been the heart and drive behind all the great things we have achieved for menopause. We are very proud to have a man leading the charge and making a huge difference. Achieving the accreditation has given us an important stamp of recognition of the work that we have done and that we are continuing to do the right thing for our employees. Not only does it let each of us know that we care for one another, it lets our customers know that we care about people. That is very important.”
