Cutting through the menopause noise with better benefits

What you need to know: 

Menopause affects a large and growing portion of today’s workforce, yet many employees lack access to clear, clinically grounded support. Employers are increasingly recognizing menopause benefits as a way to improve wellbeing, retention, and productivity.

• Perimenopause and menopause symptoms can last for years and impact work performance
• Many employees struggle with misinformation, symptom management, and delayed care
• Poor menopause support contributes to lost productivity, absenteeism, and attrition
• Clinically grounded, easy-to-use menopause benefits from Maven help employees feel supported while driving measurable business outcomes

Menopause is a significant life stage that affects many people during midlife, yet it remains inconsistently supported and often navigated in silence.

Perimenopause symptoms can last for up to 10 years, and women usually reach menopause around age 51 or 52. Considering current demographics, Gen X and Millennials account for over 50% of the workforce. This means that there is a significant number of women either experiencing menopause or approaching this transitional life stage.

As a result, menopause benefits are becoming a key tool to improving employee wellbeing and driving better business outcomes. However, appropriate perimenopause and menopause support is still not well understood.

To help cut through this confusion, Claire Ehrlich, the Vice President of Client Success at Maven Clinic, was recently joined by Susan Carino, Manager of Health and Welfare Programs at The Hartford, to discuss how working with Maven is helping them deliver meaningful, clinically grounded support for employees navigating menopause.

Carino shared how closely their benefits strategy is tied to workforce demographics, lived employee experience, and business outcomes, especially given that a little over 60% of The Hartford’s workforce is female. Their approach prioritizes clinically sound, easy-to-use benefits that align with company values, which ultimately led to a partnership with Maven, providing employees with trusted, expert-led menopause care.

The gap in employee midlife health support

Many employers fall short with menopause support. Findings from Maven’s 2025 State of Women's and Family Health Benefits reveal that just 22% of global companies offer any sort of menopause benefits.

Carino explained that their goal is to empower The Hartford’s employees and their families to build overall wellbeing. To do this, they focus on four core pillars: physical, emotional, social, and financial health. 

Menopause support, when done well, can positively impact all four. This support is becoming increasingly important given the variety of challenges women face today when navigating menopause symptoms and care.

Challenges in menopause management

Information overload

Over 40% of women have encountered conflicting information or misinformation about menopause treatments. Many report being so overloaded with information that it's difficult to find clarity. They're confused about treatments like hormone therapy or bombarded with ambiguous ads for herbal remedies and influencer advice without scientific backing.

Symptom management

Nearly two-thirds of employees experiencing menopause don’t feel confident managing their symptoms. This uncertainty can delay care, lead people to try ineffective solutions, or result in symptoms being normalized and ignored. Without access to trusted, clinically backed guidance, employees are often left to navigate a complex health transition alone.

Work performance

Almost three-quarters of employees experiencing menopause report that symptoms have a direct impact on their work. This can show up as missed deadlines, skipped meetings, or performance steps that can often go unnoticed until they become unmanageable.

The combined cost of lost productivity and medical expenses related to menopause is estimated at over $26 billion annually, with an average of 2.6% of workdays lost to symptoms.

“Helping employees manage their menopause symptoms isn't just the right thing to do, it also drives really measurable business outcomes.” - Claire Urlich

Ehrlich put these problems into context using the lived experience of an employee named ‘Angela’.

Angela is a senior project manager who's always been a steady hand on her team. But over the last year, she’s noticed brain fog creeping in and trouble sleeping through the night. But when she goes online for answers, she's hit with an avalanche of supplement ads and miracle fixes; instead of clarity, it results in anxiety and confusion.

When employees like Angela don't have access to trusted clinical support, the overload and misinformation can show up as lost productivity and even lost talent.

For the full discussion, you can watch the webinar here.

Barriers to implementing menopause benefits

Implementing meaningful menopause benefits isn’t without challenges. When webinar attendees were asked about the barriers they face, the most common response was uncertainty about what to offer. Budget constraints and lack of leadership buy-in followed closely behind.

At The Hartford, building the business case started with education, Carino shared. Many leaders simply didn’t understand what menopause and perimenopause involve, or how long symptoms can last. From there, her team analyzed workforce data, including age and gender distribution, to demonstrate relevance and potential impact.

By combining education, internal demographics, and data on productivity loss, absenteeism, and talent attrition, they were able to present both a quantitative and qualitative case. Once leadership could see the scale of impact on employees and the business, gaining buy-in became significantly easier.

Why The Hartford chose Maven’s menopause support

When evaluating menopause benefit partners, Carino highlighted several non-negotiables. First and foremost, care had to be clinically sound and evidence-based. The Hartford wanted assurance that employees would receive proven, scientifically rigorous care.

Ease of use was equally important. Employees already juggle work, family, and personal responsibilities, so any benefit needed to be accessible and simple to engage with. Finally, shared values mattered. The Hartford sought a true partner, one that aligned with their culture and could be trusted with employee health.

These criteria ultimately led them to Maven.

Building employee trust and loyalty

Carefully considered menopause benefits build trust and show that you care about your employees and their wellbeing beyond the physical benefit of just having healthier employees who are more productive.

Employers are also fostering a sense of engagement and belonging when employees see that the company cares about them, ultimately driving better retention and talent attraction.

On-demand access to personalized specialty care

Menopause is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Symptoms vary widely, which is why effective support requires personalized care plans tailored to individual needs.

“It can be really diverse, the experience going through menopause, and it needs a personalized care plan to help them manage their symptoms.” - Claire Urlich

Access also matters. Employees need timely care, not appointments scheduled months away. Many local providers may feel undertrained or unavailable to treat menopause, leaving gaps in care.

Best-in-class menopause benefits offer on-demand access to clinicians trained in midlife health, including OB-GYNs, mental health providers, nutritionists, sex coaches, physical support specialists, and career coaches. 

Maven offers access to more than 30 specialities through its platform, with some appointments available as soon as the same day. Employees also benefit from a library of curated, clinically vetted educational content, all in one trusted place.

Company-wide menopause awareness

Workplace support extends beyond individual care. Managers and colleagues who understand menopause are better equipped to recognize when symptoms may be affecting performance and to offer appropriate support.

Carino linked this back to the example of Angela: “Having co-workers and managers who are open to conversations about this make it a lot easier for her to feel comfortable bringing herself to work and to talk about what's going on with her before it potentially becomes a performance issue.”

A significant number of men also joined the webinar they hosted during Menopause Awareness Month, reinforcing that menopause support benefits partners, teams, and organizations as a whole.

Improving the bottom line

Beyond the human impact, Carino emphasized the clear business case for menopause support. By helping employees feel healthier, supported, and confident, The Hartford is improving productivity and reducing absenteeism.

Broader insights reinforce this value. Organizations that invest in clinically vetted midlife support can see an average return of over $1,600 per employee through reduced attrition and increased productivity.

From an employee perspective, Maven members report a 40-50% reduction in symptoms, such as hot flashes, sleep issues, and low mood, and those who meet with a Maven OB-GYN are three times more likely to feel equipped to manage their health during menopause.

Cutting through the menopause noise requires more than surface-level solutions. It calls for trusted, evidence-based care, thoughtful integration into benefits strategies, and a genuine commitment to employee wellbeing.

To learn more about how Maven can support your workforce with comprehensive menopause and midlife care, book a demo with our team today.

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