Menopause awareness: Becoming a menopause friendly employer

13th November 2025

Following Menopause Awareness Month in October, City College Norwich has committed to becoming a menopause friendly employer.

We want the college to be a great place to work, a place where our colleagues feel supported and valued, empowered and equipped to succeed. A place where you can all be the very best you can be.

And that means giving you the right support when you need it. This is why we’ve committed to becoming a menopause friendly employer, and it means that we’re now on the path to introducing the right menopause awareness, guidance and support.

Why do we need to do this?

The average age for a woman to reach menopause is 51, but symptoms can start years before. Menopause can also be earlier or later than this, due to surgery or for other reasons. Hormonal changes can affect us all at other stages in life, too, such as when undergoing fertility treatment, due to medication, or hormonal interventions. These can all bring about similar symptoms to menopause.

So many of our colleagues will be working with us through this transition or supporting someone who is.

What are the symptoms of menopause?

Everyone’s experience of menopause is different. The symptoms of menopause can be physical, or psychological, ranging from hot flushes and insomnia to anxiety, fatigue and brain fog. For those that struggle with symptoms, you can’t just leave them at the door when you come to work.

Our commitment

Ongoing training, awareness and guidance can help us to properly support those experiencing menopause symptoms. Which is why we’ve committed to being menopause friendly, taking our support through an accreditation process. When we’ve been assessed, we can display the Menopause Friendly employer badge.

This means meeting a clear set of criteria, which is then assessed by an expert independent panel to make sure we’re doing all we can. Knowing that we’re working towards this accreditation can reassure our colleagues that this is something that we’re passionate about getting right.

Menopause is something we all need to understand and a subject we should all feel comfortable discussing at work. The more awareness we have, the better we can support our colleagues, friends and family.