Let’s talk about the menopause

Travel companies need to be more open about discussing the menopause with female employees who may need additional support when they reach that time in their lives, said Holiday Extras national partnerships manager Lindsay Garvey-Jones.

She made the point during a debate on diversity and equality at the annual Barclays Travel Forum, which discussed whether travel businesses are treating everyone fairly.

Garvey-Jones, who sat on an all-women panel discussion, said she wasn’t in favour of female quotas, arguing that women should get a job based on skill and talent, but she added: "Something we have to start talking about is the menopause. Female leadership roles are coming at about 45, when we also have medical issues coming into force."

Historically, companies have tended to ignore the menopause, which typically affects women from their mid to late 40s and can include symptoms such as heavy and frequent periods leading to fatigue, hot flushes, ‘brain fog’ and aching joints.

"We’ve tended not to talk about it, but very often just talking can help," said Garvey-Jones, who has also promoted more openness in the workplace about LGBTQ issues. She said companies could set up focus groups to look at ways to support women, including helping them through the menopause.

"We’ve tended to brush it under the carpet it up till now, people don’t generally want to talk about ‘women’s issues’, but it can affect women in many different ways and we should be looking at supporting them through it."

While the majority of the (mainly white male) audience at the Barclays Travel Forum said, when asked, that they thought the travel industry supported diversity and inclusion, Garvey-Jones, who is in a same-sex relationship, said that when she started work at Lunn Poly she felt she had to pretend she had a boyfriend for 10 months. "I was afraid of coming out."

She said even today, some companies are guilty of ‘pink washing’ and promoting LGBTQ issues only during gay Pride, but she added: "There are some fantastic companies in travel who are getting it right because they are driving it from the top down."

When asked what more travel companies could do to support LGBTQ employees, given some are afraid of ‘getting it wrong’, Garvey-Jones said: "There is an enormous plethora of things companies can do. Learn and be educated and if you don’t want to do it send someone on behalf of the company; create forums within the workplace; it’s about having conversations, there is Stonewall to help; it’s about being honest and open; don’t guess [what people want] and don’t be silent."

She said she now has a supportive boss who wants to learn about LGBTQ issues, adding that other men should make women feel more supported in the workplace. "You’ll get more confident staff, who feel comfortable going for roles," she added.

Asked whether travel companies were biased against ethnic minorities, especially given the number of Asian travel entrepreneurs but the lack of Asians on the Boards of large companies, Farina Azam, a partner at law firm Travlaw, said: "I don’t think that’s a travel industry thing, it’s a countrywide, a UK-wide thing. I don’t think that’s going to change."

However, Wendy Papworth, head of diversity and inclusion at Barclays, said there will be new government legislation forcing large companies to reveal their ethnic pay gap within the next year or so, just as they have to make public their gender pay gap now.

"We all have a challenge accessing talent, it is a little bit silly to exclude certain parts of the population," she said, adding that companies should also consider recruiting more disabled people, military veterans and older workers.