More for women's health, less shortage of skilled workers?

Can targeted measures in companies and a better understanding of women's health really be a sustainable remedy for the shortage of skilled workers? The episode about raising awareness and supporting women's health of the Haufe podcast ‘neues lernen’ drew our attention to this question. As this is a really exciting aspect, we would like to dedicate the current article in our ‘In Focus’ series to this topic.

Some interesting figures on the shortage of skilled workers, menstruation and the menopause

Skilled worker shortage, skilled worker gap, skilled worker bottleneck – there are many terms for the problem of unfilled positions in many industries. But whatever you call it, the fact is that this problem will become even more acute in the coming years. According to a study by the German Economic Institute (IW), as many as 768,000 positions are expected to be unfilled by sufficiently qualified workers by 2028. One of the main reasons for this is demographic change, as many employees will be retiring in the coming years.

Let's throw a few more interesting figures into the mix. During their lives, all women experience various stages, from menstruation to menopause, which bring with them biological changes and hormonal shifts that can naturally also have an impact in the workplace. Complaints related to the menstrual cycle can not only affect productivity at work, but also lead to absenteeism. According to an American study*, the majority of participants stated that their cycle had a moderate to severe impact on their productivity at work, with almost half of the women reporting absenteeism. And according to a report on the health and economic effects of menopause**, two-thirds of women stated that the symptoms of menopause affected their quality of life. This is particularly interesting when you consider that, according to estimates, more than 80 per cent of women in the UK are in employment during the menopause. However, for many women, menopause is a stressful issue in the workplace. This is also confirmed by the following figures from the 2023 Meno Report survey: while almost a quarter of the women surveyed have reduced their working hours due to menopausal symptoms, almost a fifth of the women surveyed stated that they were considering retiring early due to menopausal symptoms.

Taking all these facts and figures together, the question inevitably arises as to how and by what measures companies can support women during menstruation or menopause in order to prevent this.

Raise awareness, create awareness, provide support

First and foremost, effective measures do not have to be expensive. The issue should first be brought to the attention of managers and multipliers through awareness-raising, education and open dialogue. Impulse and exchange formats, information events, workshops or project groups are suitable for this purpose. Subsequently and in addition, companies can establish concrete support measures, such as making home office regulations or break arrangements more flexible, providing a relaxation room or other places of retreat, and introducing counselling formats, stress management programmes, sports or relaxation activities. For such offers to be effective, a culture of psychological safety is needed above all else, i.e. a working environment in which topics such as cycle complaints or hormonal fluctuations can be addressed without shame or fear of stigmatisation – even in mixed or male-dominated teams.

However, it is also important to highlight why it makes sense to address this issue in the first place. When companies ensure that women feel comfortable and receive health support in the workplace, they not only increase motivation and performance, but also their own attractiveness in the competition for skilled workers. And even if this alone cannot solve the demographic shortage of skilled workers, it still makes a valuable contribution to easing the pressure on the labour market. After all, menstruation and menopause affect half of the population for decades – and yet have been ignored for far too long. It is time to make women's health visible and put it firmly on the agenda of the working world.

And what about men's health?

This is also important, of course – especially when it comes to cancer screening. Companies can and should raise awareness and provide support in this area too, because according to a survey by the German Society for Men and Health, only 22 per cent of men attend cancer screening appointments.

Krones, for example, demonstrates that it is generally important to remind employees of all genders how important prevention is. Following an internal campaign on breast cancer in 2023, the company also ran a campaign on testicular and prostate cancer prevention in 2024. Through various activities, such as a three-part newsletter, a webinar on the prevention, early detection and treatment of prostate cancer, and a lecture by professional handball players and twins Michael and Uli Roth, they raised awareness about testicular and prostate cancer and highlighted the importance of prevention.

But men's health is about more than cancer screening. So here's a question for the men among our readers: what other health or awareness issues are important to you?

*Digit Health Studie. Menstrual cycle-associated symptoms and workplace productivity in US employees: A cross-sectional survey of users of the Flo mobile phone app. 2022.

** The Health and Economic Impacts of Menopause. Policies and Investments to Advance Care, Opportunity, and Equity. A Special Report from FP Analytics, with support from Bayer. 2023.

Sources

https://www.haufe.de/personal/neues-lernen/podcast-neues-lernen-frauengesundheit_589614_663050.html

https://statistik.arbeitsagentur.de/DE/Navigation/Footer/Top-Produkte/Fachkraefteengpassanalyse-Nav.html

https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article256398006/IW-Studie-Fachkraefteluecke-wird-rasant-wachsen-768-000-Stellen-betroffen.html

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9761221/

https://impactsofmenopause.com/bayer-fpa/case-study-germany/

https://impactsofmenopause.com/

https://www.stmgp.bayern.de/meine-themen/fuer-frauen/wechseljahre/

https://gender-works.giz.de/lets-talk-about-periodswork/

https://www.krones.com/de/unternehmen/presse/magazine/backstage/hauptsache-mann-ist-gesund.php