Employers and workplace health professionals are urging the government to do more to encourage employers to invest in support for women’s health.

In an open letter to the employment minister Alison McGovern, 28 organisations including the CIPD and the Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) have pressed for more government action to help employers invest in supportive policies for women’s health and reproductive challenges.

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The letter has argued that better workplace support will not only benefit employees’ personal wellbeing but will help deliver benefits for both businesses and the wider economy.

This is because more support and investment will keep more people in productive work and contributing to positive business outcomes.

The letter has spelled out that many women drop out of the workforce or are held back from developing in their careers because they are managing health or reproductive issues such as menopause symptoms, fertility challenges and pregnancy or baby loss.

The CIPD’s Health and wellbeing report 2023, for example, highlighted that only 37% of employers offer provision for pregnancy loss, 26% offer support for fertility issues and 18% support menstrual health challenges. The letter makes three recommendations for the UK government to act on:

• Launch a review of women’s and reproductive health support in the workplace, to identify the economic opportunities for strengthening support, guidance and enforcement of current regulations. This should be followed by an action plan.
• Launch a high-profile campaign to motivate and give confidence to employers to develop working environments that offer flexibility and occupational health support for women’s health issues across their working lives.
• Widen access to occupational health services and other health provisions for those in and out of work. It says this will support people to remain in, or return to, appropriate work in which they can manage their health.

“With supportive employer policies, better people management support and the opportunity to access specialist occupational health support, we can keep more women in fulfilling and productive work,” said Rachel Suff, senior policy and practice adviser for wellbeing at the CIPD.

“We need urgent, coordinated action from employers, policymakers, and health systems to integrate occupational health into broader public health and labour strategies,” added Emma Persand, chair of SOM’s Women’s Health at Work Network.

This requires genuine investment in preventive care, better enforcement of safety standards, and inclusive policies that protect all workers, regardless of their status or sector,” Persand said.

 

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