Thank you so much.
That's a really important question, and it gets to some of the really critical points about the workplace.
In my own research, the data is very similar. I looked across health professionals, and it's very similar. One of the biggest pieces is around the training element. If we're going to be creating menopause-inclusive workplaces, we need to provide the training for our managers. They are the front line. They are the ones who are taking all of the information. We need to make it easier for them.
Looking at the example I used in my opening remarks, at Dalhousie University, we are doing some of that training. Training shouldn't just be for our female employees; it needs to be for everyone, for our male employees and our younger employees as well. We need to have allies within the workplace as well as those who are going through the journey, so training is critical.
The other piece is in providing those support networks. The evidence shows us how important support groups are within the workplace so you don't feel alone. You feel that you are validated when you can share your experiences. I hear that over and over again from participants in our support group and ones that I've led nationally as well. To be able to share an experience has been critical.
The third thing, and this may come up later as well, is around benefits. The evidence shows that in many of our workplaces, one in four of our employees do not know what their benefits are. If you don't know what your benefits are, how can you then access them? Those who know they have benefits don't know what it means from a menopause perspective. Back to the training, our managers really need to have training, not just on menopause but on the supports within our workplace so that we know where there are gaps and where we need to advocate for some of those changes as well.