Introduction

Industrial relations (IR) as a field of study principally focuses on the employment relationship and relations between workers and managers, subject matter that is of enduring interest and importance given the dominant role of waged labour in most people's lives (see Hodder and Martínez Lucio, 2021). Despite this, the field has frequently been framed in terms of crises and decline regarding its significance and relevance (see, for example, Strauss, 1989; Ackers and Wilkinson, 2008; Piore, 2011). Undoubtedly, the field has faced significant and ongoing challenges, including: the relative status and position of IR within increasingly marketized, neoliberal universities; the erosion of institutionalized IR, worker representation and collective bargaining within employing organizations; and the increasing influence on both academic and practitioner understandings of the employment relationship, which have to an extent shifted towards related fields of human resource management (HRM), organizational psychology, management studies (critical or otherwise) and similar.

In 2009, the British Universities Industrial Relations Association (BUIRA) published a landmark edited collection, provocatively titled What's the Point of Industrial Relations (Darlington, 2009), which was partly inspired by the dispute over the erosion and planned closure of the long-standing Centre for Industrial Relations at Keele University, where scholars in the field were pushed out of the institution, courses were marked for closure and management were evidently hostile towards, and did not value the field of, study (for an overview of the 2007–08 Keele dispute, see Lyddon, 2008; Seifert, 2009). Featuring contributions from well-known academics in the field and adjacent subject areas, as well as important practitioner contributions from representatives of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Advice, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), the collection detailed the various challenges and attacks on the subject area while simultaneously highlighting the enduring academic and more practical importance and relevance of IR.

This book was initially conceived as a means of marking the 70-year anniversary of BUIRA in 2020 and as a follow-up to the 2009 collection. While this has been delayed by several years, in large part, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption it caused, the challenges identified in the 2009 collection have arguably worsened and intensified.

Introduction

Some 40 years ago, the term ‘industrial relations’ was often, wrongly, conflated with trade unionism. Unions were so embedded in the collective systems and institutions that regulate the employment relationship that it was challenging to imagine a setting where unions were not a dominant actor. Today, the role and influence of unions is much reduced, especially outside the public sector. Union membership, density and bargaining coverage in the UK have all declined dramatically since the 1980s, and with that, their role in public life and influence over employment terms and conditions has waned. This chapter reflects on these changes, how unions have attempted to reverse the decline and their role in contemporary society. Central to the analysis presented is the argument that unions both shape the broader economic and social context, and are shaped by them. Capitalism and labour markets have changed partly because unions have lost influence. Equally important is that the challenges unions face have changed because the wider social and economic contexts have changed. This dynamic interplay means that the future of work and of unions is very difficult to predict.

The decline of union influence does not mean that unions have no role in the contemporary regulation of work. Unions represent 6.4 million workers in the UK (around 23 per cent of working people) (BEIS, 2022). Unions regulate terms and conditions of work through multiple mechanisms: bargaining collectively; lobbying for changes to policies and laws; supporting members when they have problems at work; and working to enforce agreements in workplaces. Collective bargaining is a crucial role and allows unions to negotiate the terms and conditions for large groups of workers rather than individuals, whether or not they are individually members of that union. Estimates vary as to how many workers have their terms and conditions set by collective bargaining. The Labour Force Survey suggests that it is around 29 per cent, but the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) estimates it at around 39 per cent (for an extensive discussion, see Waddington, 2019). Those headline figures hide significant differences between the public and private sectors. In the public sector, around 90 per cent of workers have collectively bargained terms and conditions, but this is only about 21 per cent of private sector workers (Waddington, 2019).

Introduction

This chapter focuses on cis women's experiences of problematic hot flushes at work and how their shared workspaces are often beset with tensions around temperature and ventilation as a result. I draw loosely on Andreas Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos’ (2010, 2015, 2017, 2020) reading of spatial justice, and Sophie Watson's (2020) use of this concept to understand the Muslim practice of Wudu1 in public spaces, to try to theorize shared organizational space as characterized by a series of injustices in this respect. These are generated, Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos (2017, p 24) explains, as follows:

The data I use are taken from two projects. The first is an online survey that we ran in the summer of 2018 in conjunction with TUC Education on people's knowledge about menopause per se but also and more significantly its impact on their workplaces and them as individual workers. This attracted 5,399 respondents. The second project involved interviews and two surveys at Northshire, a pseudonymous NHS hospital trust in the UK. This was longitudinal, tracking the impact of the Trust's introduction of menopause guidance and an accompanying programme of support on its staff. The arguments I make are also informed by the anecdotes that Vanessa and I hear when sharing our ongoing research on menopause at work which centre on shared organizational space and the challenges of regulating temperature to suit everyone within this kind of space.

Hot flushes at work

During a July 2021 episode of the prime time BBC1 magazine programme The One Show, journalist and presenter Louise Minchin talked about her menopausal hot flushes, and a solution she had been able to implement at work. This she described as ‘a few simple steps’, as follows:

Introduction

In this chapter, we reflect on the possibilities of male allyship for educating about, advocating for and supporting menopausal transition at work as a form of gender or menopausal equality. An ally ‘is any person that actively promotes and aspires to advance the culture of inclusion through intentional, positive and conscious efforts that benefit people as a whole’ (Atcheson, 2018, np).

A variety of practices seek to reduce discrimination and inequality surrounding menopausal transition at work including supervisor or management training, use of occupational health and safety risk assessments to provide suitable accommodations, or the inclusion of menopause in HR and employee health and well-being policies, programmes and activities inter alia (Jack et al, 2016; Hardy, Griffiths and Hunter, 2019; Atkinson et al, 2021a). Much of the scholarly work regarding the nature and benefits of such practices has been based on data generated from individual women and their reported experience of menopause inside and outside the workplace (for example Beck, Brewis and Davies, 2020; Atkinson et al, 2021b), or managers of different genders regarding their attitudes or experience of training to support menopause at work (for example Hardy, Griffiths and Hunter, 2019). A central insight that traverses this work to date is that menopause is a site of gendered ageism (see, for example, Riach, Loretto and Krekula, 2015). This mode of inequality is socially constituted, situated and marked in multiple ways by relations between people and crucially also by the gendered and gendering dynamics of organizational life (Jack, Riach and Bariola, 2019). Reflecting on this insight, our chapter presents the findings of a small study that seeks to understand how men may engage with menopause at work with two particular foci in mind. First, to shed light on menopause equality work as a relational phenomenon based on the perspectives of a sample of male respondents. And second, to consider the prospective possibilities and challenges for men to act as workplace allies for working women going through menopause and to promote inclusive workplace environments.

Why is menopause a workplace issue?

In focusing on menopausal women in the labour market and specific workplaces, this edited volume aims to re-theorize the management of people as it relates to the connections between gender, age and the body in organizations. The ‘bodily turn’ in management and organization studies is now nearing the end of its fourth decade (see, for early examples of this research, Burrell, 1984; Hearn et al, 1989; Acker, 1990; Brewis and Grey, 1994), and work which critically unpicks diversity initiatives dates back at least to the early 2000s (for example, Kersten, 2000; Lorbiecki and Jack, 2000; Dick and Cassell, 2002). Despite this, the menopause is still rarely discussed in management and organization studies, the sociology of work and employment literature or HRM research.

Menopause transitions encompass perimenopause where symptoms begin, through menopause which marks the day when a woman's periods have stopped for 12 months, to post-menopause thereafter, during which symptoms often continue. Symptoms can be both physical (for example, erratic periods, hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia and aches and pains) and psychological (for example, anxiety, irritability, loss of focus and forgetfulness). Research from the UK suggests that some 54 per cent of women will experience at least one severe symptom – that is, one that significantly affects their quality of life (Evandrou et al, 2021). That said, menopause is also unique to everyone that goes through it – as Karen Throsby and Celia Roberts establish in Chapter 2 in this volume, there is no such thing as THE menopause. One of the most common variations is premature menopause, defined as occurring before the age of 40, which is something 1 per cent of women experience. Menopause can also be precipitated by surgery – such as the removal of ovaries – or certain medications, like Tamoxifen which may be used to treat breast cancer.

Further, and importantly for our purposes here, menopause transitions have implications for work and are, in turn, affected by work. Indeed, and as we establish elsewhere (Atkinson et al, 2021a), this is a very important area for employers and academic researchers, given that:

• • The global north workforce is ageing, and older women have been one of the fastest growing groups among this workforce.

Introduction

This chapter discusses menopause issues in UK workplaces via a lens of trade unions and employment relations. There are four main reasons why a focus on trade unions is important to considerations of menopause in workplaces. The first is the historical role that trade unions have played in the emergent literature on menopause in the workplace. One of the earliest, most comprehensive and still relevant publications (Paul, 2003) was written on behalf of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC). Based on empirical data and providing comprehensive guidance, Paul's publication forms a foundation for much of the subsequent discussions in the field even though very little of this latter discourse was focused on trade unions. Although the early lead in the literature on menopause in work was not pursued by the TUC, they have more recently provided online resources on menopause at work and guidance on supporting women through menopause at work (see www.tuc.org.uk/menopa use-work).

Moreover, the TUC and its member unions play an important role in the provision of practical advice and the development of menopause policies and guidelines. This is a second justification for the focus on trade unions. Particularly noteworthy is the Wales TUC Cymru (2017) toolkit for trade unionists on menopause in the workplace, which is not only based on a solid evidence base but also provides clear guidance and comprehensive considerations on how to best introduce a menopause policy or guidelines in a workplace, including deciding which of the two may be most appropriate. Although usually far less comprehensive, many individual trade unions have provided similar advice and guidance, including most of the trade unions represented in the research discussed in this chapter: GMB, Britain's General Union (GMB, nd), National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT, 2021), National Education Union (NEU, 2019), Prospect (2018), Royal College of Nursing (RNC, 2020), University and College Union (UCU, 2018), UNISON, the public sector union (2021) and Unite the Union (Unite, 2012).

Introduction

This chapter considers the poor fit between workplace policy and menopause considerations in UK organizations, coming at these issues through the lens of flexible work and its utilization in workplaces. As the editors and other contributors here have amply demonstrated, for many organizations, policy and practice supporting menopause transitions in the workplace has constituted a blind spot in human resource management (HRM) processes. Rather than explicitly engaging in the issue, managers have tended to approach changing work needs around menopause through a work adjustment process. This is more typical of the way in which organizations have responded to the difficulties that 9– 5 office-bound working patterns can pose for older workers, for example, through designing flexible working arrangements or making other adjustments to standardized working patterns. This chapter takes the position that this kind of approach can be inappropriate for a stage in the lifecourse that is fluctuating and variable. Rather, organizational offers around flexible work would be improved through becoming more responsive, and managers more adept at designing and monitoring flexible working arrangements.

Loretto and Vickerstaff (2015) have made the case for adopting a more critical analysis of the role of flexible work in managing older workers, with gender cited as a key differentiator of experiences. Given the alignment of the average age of menopause at 51 (Brewis et al, 2017) with the ‘older worker’ category of 50+ frequently used in labour market analysis, it might be expected that menopause is a key component driving women's flexible work requests at this point in their working lives. Indeed, given rising life expectancy and the upward policy manipulation of the state pension age, and the pressures that these place upon older workers to remain active in the workforce well beyond menopause, there is a strong economic imperative for more responsive solutions to be developed around flexible work that can support the extension of working lives. In this chapter, these issues are considered with reference to three separate pieces of research by the author which have resonance for bringing together flexible work around menopause management.

In this short editorial conclusion, we draw out the key messages offered throughout the volume's chapters, highlighting areas where these chapters complement each other and/or make contributions to the knowledge base on menopause transitions and the workplace. This foundation is then used to re-assess areas which require further development, or which have opened up as new research areas given the now expanded knowledge base. This culminates in a clear research agenda to follow going forwards as we hope to see menopause transitions in the workplace becoming a more established research field.

Our edited volume has brought together chapters covering menopause as a biopsychosocial process; transitions within workplaces; flexible working; trade unions, the spatial context of work; and male allyship in organizations. With this breadth of subject matter, we have made clear contributions and advanced knowledge on menopause in the following, important ways. First, the chapters have helped counter the still predominantly biomedical discourse around menopause and have furthered the discussions around a biopsychosocial approach. Karen Throsby and Celia Roberts do this most prominently in Chapter 2, and set the tone for the whole volume thereby. As their analysis makes clear, although the provision of HRT is an important subject and the focus on the availability of such medication in UK parliamentary activities is welcome (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Menopause, 2022; Women and Equalities Committee, 2022), there is a need for an extension of support for menopausal women to consider social and cultural factors. We also need, as Karen and Celia establish, to open up the conversation around menopause to include those who are often excluded – LGBTQI+ people, people with disabilities, people who do not have children and those who go through premature menopause – in workplaces and elsewhere.

Equally, public discussions around menopause have increased awareness, yet knowledge about how best to practically implement knowledge and make a difference in families, social settings and workplaces – our focus here – is still underdeveloped. Practice is in fact running considerably ahead of research here, and as such academic assessments of menopause interventions in organizations are still very much needed. Jane Parry's analysis of flexible work in Chapter 3 is therefore an important addition to the knowledge base.

In this chapter, we explore menopause transition in the workplace. Menopause describes the cessation of periods and is a natural life stage. Menopause transition, or ‘peri-menopause’, is ‘the time between onset of menstrual irregularity and the menopause’ (O’Neill and Eden, 2017, p 303).1 It is associated with a number of symptoms, usually experienced between the ages of 45– 55, which include hot flushes, night sweats, mood changes, poor concentration, memory loss, anxiety and weight gain. How each woman experiences menopause transition is different and unique (Banks, 2019) and the impact, duration, onset and severity of symptoms experienced vary greatly. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that, for many, transition symptoms have a negative effect on working lives (Griffiths and Hunter, 2014), with nearly 40 per cent of those in transition agreeing that menopausal symptoms had some negative effect on their work performance (Griffiths, Maclennan and Hassard, 2013). Indeed, a recent study suggests that up to a quarter of those experiencing serious symptoms have left employment (Powell, 2021).

There are a number of reasons why this workplace impact should concern employers, drawing on legal, business and social justice cases (Atkinson et al, 2021). Legally, organizations have a responsibility to employees in menopause transition. They need, for example, to ensure compliance with both the Equality Act 2010 and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and ensure they are aware of ‘best practice’ guidelines. Employer failure to recognize the impact of menopause in the workplace has resulted in a number of employer losses at employment tribunal on the grounds of discrimination and unfair dismissal. The first was recorded in 2012 (Merchant vs BT) and, while numbers are still small, cases brought had grown to ten in the first half of 2021 (Hill, 2021). There is also clearly a strong business case: the workforce is ageing and it is estimated that there are 4.3 million workers who identify as cis women aged between 50– 64 in the UK workforce (ONS, 2019). Given that the average age of menopause is 51, a significant number will be working while in transition (O’Neill and Eden, 2017).

Introduction

It is a little-known fact that only humans and two species of whale go through menopause. We learned this during a 2016 BBC documentary – ‘The whale menopause’ – that described menopause as ‘one of human evolution's great mysteries’ (BBC Radio 4, 2016). Presenting the case of 100+ year-old killer whale (‘J2’), anthropomorphically dubbed ‘Granny’, the programme marvelled at the centrality of the non-reproductive female to the survival of the family group, or pod, concluding that older female killer whales are ‘not redundant. They actually have an important role to play’. Granny's physical capacity to ‘prolifically’ breach (that is, to rise out of the water) was also noted as marvellous, given her age. In 2017, when her death was announced, Granny was described as ‘the leader’ and ‘matriarch’ of the group in a BBC radio report (BBC Radio 4, 2017). The interviewed scientist stated that ‘post-reproductive females’ like Granny direct the pod to navigate safely through foraging grounds, ‘storing ecological knowledge for the group’. Dependent adult sons (age 30+ years) are, the scientist reported, eight times more likely to perish when post-reproductive females die: these sons are dependent on their mothers for food. Again, it was confirmed that the females of only two species of whale and humans live beyond their reproductive years.

Humans, the 2016 documentary explained, have much to learn from this fact in understanding the value of older women's lives. It suggested that the story of the killer whales has the empowering potential for appreciating ‘the importance of older females in society’ (BBC Radio 4, 2016). For us, this conclusion indicates the astonishing depth and strength of prevailing accounts of women's core value as reproductive beings and of menopause as a catastrophic ending to reproductive capacities. Although extensively studied within biology and medicine, menopause remains ‘a mystery’ because of the persistent social, cultural and scientific difficulties in conceptualizing female human and nonhuman animals’ value beyond species propagation.

The ‘Rethinking Work, Ageing and Retirement’ book series explores the impact of extended working lives and changes to welfare states and labour markets on people, organizations and society. The radical changes affecting work and retirement were an impetus for the series. In particular, rising state pension ages, shifts towards individual responsibility and risk in private pensions saving, and the abolition of mandatory retirement ages in a number of countries now frame decisions about retirement. In theory, these policy developments extend individual discretion about continuing in employment, which may create new opportunities for those who want – and are able – to work. In practice, however, it arguably makes retirement timing only a hypothetical choice that people can be held more accountable for. Individuals must now assume greater financial responsibility for remaining in work as long as they need to. For significant numbers of older people this may be difficult to achieve, however, given evidence of widespread age discrimination in the labour market and reduced employment opportunities for this group. This is in addition to difficulties individuals experience in the labour market at any age – for example, due to racism or ableism, or constraints on time and energy stemming from outside paid work, such as care responsibilities. Work itself also appears to be getting more precarious, albeit to differing degrees across countries, and the management of older workers is becoming less straightforward given uncertainties around retirement.

It is in this context, we are delighted to welcome this excellent volume on menopause transitions and the workplace edited by Vanessa Beck and Jo Brewis. It is well established that health-related issues have a significant impact on whether people continue working up to, and beyond, pension ages. We also know, as the editors of this volume point out in their introduction, that over half of women will at some stage experience one or more severe symptom(s) of menopause and some will consider leaving work because of this. Despite this, menopause transitions in the workplace have only recently been recognized as an issue of importance within the academic and policy literature, and this was in part because of the significant work the editors and authors of this book have done on this topic.