Progyny's CMO wants to normalize menopause conversations at work

• Key Insight: Discover how menopause support programs are becoming strategic employee-retention levers.
• What's at Stake: Widespread symptoms could drive absenteeism, early retirement, and measurable productivity loss.
• Expert Quote: "Every woman will experience menopause," says Dr. Janet Choi, urging employer recognition and action.
• Source: Bullets generated by AI with editorial review

Menopause support is emerging as a trending employee benefit, good news for the millions of women approaching menopause or actively experiencing symptoms today. 

"Every single woman is going to go through this, and there will be some individuals who will not experience any sort of problematic symptoms, and others who will experience every single symptom in the medical textbooks," says Dr. Janet Choi, chief medical officer at Progyny. 

Beyond common symptoms like hot flashes, Dr. Choi shares that women can experience a battery of physical and mental changes, including weight gain, an emergence of depression or anxiety, and joint pain. 

"That's going to affect things like cardiovascular disease risk, stroke risk, dementia risk, diabetes risk, and all those kinds of concerns that do increase over midlife and post menopause," Dr. Choi says. "Other symptoms that women oftentimes don't talk about include things like mood symptoms. Unfortunately, the statistics show that there is a real increase in suicidal ideation, even for individuals who've never suffered depression or anxiety in their younger years." 

Read more: The ROI of supporting women through menopause

According to research from the Mayo Health Clinic, employers are losing nearly $2 billion annually in lost productivity, and a total cost of $26.6 billion in medical expenses associated with menopause symptoms. Not only does it make financial sense to provide support — it's the right thing to do, Dr. Choi says. 

"This can lead in some cases to early retirement, reduced work time, and reduced productivity," she says. "Employers do need to pay attention, plus it's the right thing to do to show real holistic support for their female employees." 

In a recent Leaders conversation with Employee Benefit News, Dr. Choi shared treatment options available for women today, why mental health is a core part of the conversation, and how Progyny is filling in the gaps for employers wanting a menopause program in their benefits. 

There are so many different symptoms associated with menopause, yet women still have a fear of bringing up that something might be wrong. How can benefit managers move the needle on this stigma? 
I think there is a huge stigma around aging, particularly aging in the workplace, particularly amongst women. I think a lot of women are afraid that if they bring up some of their concerns around their health that they might be further marginalized or demoted or not allowed to advance further. I do see positive signs of that evolving and diminishing, but it's not totally gone in certain parts of the country. So I do want women and their employers to realize that these are normal life changes that can be adequately addressed, so that women can continue into their prime and be a really productive contributor to their workplace, as well as at home.

What kinds of resources and providers should employers be partnering with to support this life transition, and what challenges exist there? 
Typically OBGYNs are the first providers women will turn to, and if you're lucky, you have an OBGYN who is really well-versed on the most evidence-based solutions for the array of symptoms. And it's not just hormone therapy. But unfortunately, when you look at some of the very recent statistics within the past two or three years, there was a survey of all the OBGYN residency directors in the country, and only [about 31.3%] said that they offered any sort of menopause related training during that four-year OBGYN residency program. So oftentimes it's not that the OBGYN doesn't care or doesn't want to support their patients well, but maybe they don't have the right foothold and education and background to really support a person's needs when they go to their doctor's office.

Read more: These LGBTQ couples are building a family with Progyny's fertility benefits

[At Progyny], the minute a member onboards, if their employer decides to adopt a menopause program, every single member is assigned their own nurse clinical educator who's been well-versed and trained in the areas of perimenopause and menopause. And so that first step, of just symptom validation goes a very long way to providing that badly needed and missing support. 

How can benefit managers create a culture where this support is normalized? 
One of my different hats that I wear is as an educator with our team members. We will offer up educational menopause 101 webinars. Typically the word goes out through HR to the women's health ERGs, but the questions people have show a desire for really solid evidence-based education knowledge. 

Oftentimes HR leads might say, you know what? No one's really talking about menopause. So I guess it's not an issue. I think you need to go to your women's health ERGs, and you don't even need a conversation starter — just tell me how you feel about menopause and perimenopause and the floodgates will open. You'll very quickly realize how much need is there. 

Even if you're not quite ready yet to adopt a full on menopause benefit, although I do think it's relatively cost effective to do so, enabling your women's ERG groups, or even starting a midlife menopause support group, that community building is hugely comforting. It also normalizes this for a lot of those employees who thought they were going through this all by themselves.