Could the menopause affect your retirement?

Eight in ten women will experience this while still working, where symptoms and changes can directly affect how they feel in the workplace, and how they interact with colleagues and conduct their work more broadly.  

This can lead to many women considering leaving work due to the menopause. But reducing hours or leaving work not only means less money now, it can also mean less pension savings later in life. 

This is at a time when women should be thriving in their career and possibly at the peak of their earnings. For those stopping work, they’ll no longer receive pension contributions from their employer, and it could mean the end of pension saving. Even reducing working hours will mean less in the way of pension savings as it is based on a percentage of salary. 

What does that mean in retirement?

Can the menopause really affect what your retirement could look like? Women are already at a disadvantage in terms of pension savings. Although the UK’s gender pay gap, the difference between what men and women earn, has been reducing over the past decade, it still stood at 14.3% for all employees in April 2023 and 7.7% for full time employees. But the gender pension gap is affected by more than just the gender pay gap. Women are more likely than men to have taken a career break or worked part-time to care for children, grandchildren, or elderly relatives and then there’s the menopause. Unfortunately, dealing with menopause symptoms can come at a time when many women may be thinking about adding to their pension savings.  

Let’s look at an example of what stopping or reducing hours due to the menopause could mean in retirement. Let’s look at a 50-year-old woman in full time work with a salary of £40,000 and a pension fund of £100,000. If she works full time until State Pension age, she could be around £126,000 better off compared to another woman who stops working at age 50, who instead of having a pension pot of £355,510 would have a pension pot of £229,202. 

If someone reduced their hours by 50% at age 50, this would reduce their pension pot by £63,000, so they’d have £292,356 at State Pension age. That’s calculated using wage increases of 2.5% each year, a growth rate of 5% (not including charges) and total contributions of 10%, split between the employee and her employer. That reduction in retirement savings could make a real difference to quality of life in retirement. 

What could help you stay in work during the menopause? 

Women can feel there’s a lack of support in work when it comes to dealing with symptoms of the menopause. Through our research, we found that 82% of women would be more likely to stay with their current employer if they were better supported.  

Anxiety. Fatigue. Brain fog and hot flushes. These are just some of the symptoms of the menopause that can affect your working life - what could help you with this? 77% of women said they’d feel more comfortable having a conversation with a female line manager. Do you have a menopause support network where you can discuss any challenges you’re having and benefit from other colleagues’ support? If you don’t, could you set one up? Having that emotional support and advice could help you to work through any challenges you have.  

Some companies allow flexible working, this could be flexible working hours, remote working options, or simply the chance to take small breaks when needed. Maybe that’s something to check with your employer? And a fan! Every (peri)menopausal woman should be allowed a fan! Are there any similar adjustments that would help you? All these things could help you stay in work. 
Maintaining your working life both pre-(peri)menopause and post menopause will not only help with what your retirement could look like, it could also help with your career and your confidence. It can help you feel valued. 
 

Tackling the gender pension and wealth gap research commissioned by Royal London, Cicero surveyed 3,000 adults across the UK in October 2023.