Menopause awareness programme gains ‘Highly Commended’ status in wellbeing awards

Kat Parsons at ISS received ‘Highly Commended’ in the SHP Trailblazer Awards 13^th December 2021 for her programme to raise awareness of the menopause and its impact on wellbeing in the workplace.

The Trailblazer Awards part of the wider SHP Awards, recognise health & safety professionals who go above and beyond to make a positive difference within their own organisation or more widely in the community.

ISS Menopause Programme

Kat Parsons, HSEQ Operations and Environment Manager at ISS UK and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment Practitioner (PIEMA) commented, “I always think that the key to health and safety knowledge sharing is to draw on your own experiences.” Her research and passion to raise awareness of menopause resulted in a range of positive developments to include:

• Learning modules within the ISS corporate learning and development programme
• Leading the Working Group to formulate the Menopause Policy for ISS UK
• Health & Safety awareness programmes for all business areas and individuals at ISS
• Inclusion in the ISS Mental Health First Aid programme

The Menopause programme reaches thousands of stakeholders ranging from clients to ISS placemakers, which effectively broadens the reach of the programme.

Workplace impact

Using her professional and personal experience, Kat highlighted the debilitating effect of menopause symptoms such as brain fogs, forgetfulness, depression and lack of sleep on health and physical and mental wellbeing.

Her research bought to light the case of an employee whose menopause related tiredness almost caused her to fall asleep at the wheel of her car. The employee’s menopause related condition wasn’t raised as a ‘near miss’, nor did she or speak to her line manager about her symptoms to request a more flexible work pattern to support her continued work.

Kat added, “The menopause is seen as a taboo subject. People do not like to talk about it apart from in jest; line managers are not trained to spot the symptoms and signpost support.”

Tim Proctor, Director of Health, Safety, Environment, Quality & Corporate Responsibility UK & Ireland stated, “Kat is one of our developing stars and I’m delighted that she has been recognised in this way.  At ISS, we prioritise the health, safety, mental health and overall wellbeing of every single one of our people and stakeholders, everywhere, everytime we can. Every gender can feel the impact of the menopause and do something positive to support our people and communities. We’re proud to have people such as Kat who proactively contribute to help people to thrive at work.”