Oxford PharmaGenesis has been recognised as a menopause friendly employer after taking steps to break down bias within the company.
The global health science consultancy, which has a predominantly female workforce working either fully remotely or in a hybrid arrangement, was awarded the accreditation established by Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace.
The business – which has 10 sites in Europe, America and Asia-Pacific and provides communication services for the healthcare sector – says it is invested in supporting people’s health and wellbeing both professionally and personally.
According to Oxford PharmaGenesis, it is proud of its “caring and nurturing culture” and there are a number of reasons why it believes being menopause friendly is important. It aims to support staff as their lives evolve throughout their employment, attract senior female employees in an inclusive way, and break down biases to achieve open and honest communication and enable a tailored approach to support.
Sharon Frost, the firm’s global HR director, said: “As a majority female populated company, it is an honour to have been accredited as a menopause friendly employer in recognition of the collective work that has taken place at Oxford PharmaGenesis to break down bias in the workplace on a topic affecting many of our current and future colleagues.
“I would like to thank our advocates for their hard work and our colleagues who shared their lived experiences to help us create a workplace that now better serves them.”
In order to gain the accreditation, the company was assessed by an independent panel in six key areas – culture, policies and practices, training, engagement, facilities and evaluation – to establish whether it had proven practices and high standards that embraced menopause at work.
Some of the steps taken by Oxford PharmaGenesis included implementing effective education and training processes, introducing menopause advocates to help highlight different perspectives and develop its offering, taking positive action on its facilities and support following a detailed review and establishing an environment for honest and open conversations about the menopause.
Deborah Garlick, CEO of Henpicked: Menopause in the Workplace, added: “Oxford PharmaGenesis have shown themselves to be truly menopause friendly and it was refreshing to hear they don’t view the menopause friendly accreditation as simply a badge of achievement.
“As we so often find, they valued most highly the structure that the accreditation process provides to help them deliver an ongoing programme that has rigour and is truly meaningful. It’s wonderful to hear they are now thinking more broadly and see being menopause friendly as an ongoing process that will evolve and improve their support of colleagues in this area.”
