How Much Is Menopause Costing Your Business?
The cost of menopause to employers hides in three places most businesses never add up: sick days, quiet underperformance and resignations that were never really about “a new challenge”. Three inputs, thirty seconds, and this calculator shows you a sourced estimate for your business. Built by CIPD-qualified HR consultants for North West employers.
Built for Employers & Their Teams
CIPD Qualified
ERA 2025 Updated
Bolton, Manchester, North WestYour Business
Default 38%: the UK-wide share of working women in this age band. Change it if you know yours.
Salary only. The true cost per day is higher once NI, pension and cover are added, so treat results as a floor.
Your Estimated Annual Cost
- Employees likely experiencing symptoms
- 6
- Working days lost per year
- 31
- Absence cost
- £3,756
- Presenteeism estimate (assumption: 50% of absence cost)
- £1,878
- Staff likely considering leaving
- 1
- Attrition-risk cost per year
- £1,698
- Total estimated annual cost
- £7,331
An estimate built from national research averages, not a measurement of your business. Every figure is sourced in “How We Calculate This” below.
How We Calculate This
No black box. Every coefficient in this menopause cost calculator is traceable to a named source, and the one assumption we make is labelled as one.
| Step | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Women aged 40–60 in your workforce | Your input × your % (default 38%) | Default derived from 6.15 million women aged 40–60 in employment (Annual Population Survey 2022) as a share of women in UK employment |
| Likely experiencing symptoms | × 73% | Analysis of Annual Population Survey data: 73% of women aged 40–60 in work are experiencing or have experienced menopause symptoms (LGA menopause factfile) |
| Working days lost per year | × 5.5 days each | Benenden Health survey of 2,000 UK working women aged 40–65 (2026): average 5.5 working days lost per year to menopause-related illness |
| Absence cost | Days × (salary ÷ 260) | Standard 260-day working year; salary-only day rate, so a deliberate underestimate |
| Presenteeism estimate | Absence cost × 50% | ASSUMPTION, labelled on the results panel. Direction supported by CIPD (2023): 79% of symptomatic women report reduced concentration at work. We use a conservative 50% because national presenteeism estimates vary widely |
| Staff considering leaving | Affected × 17% | CIPD (2023): one in six women considered leaving work due to lack of menopause support |
| Attrition-risk cost | Affected × 1% × £30,614 | CIPD (2023) found 6% actually left; spread across a typical seven-year symptom span, that is roughly 1% per year. Replacement cost £30,614 per employee: Oxford Economics, The Cost of Brain Drain |
Three things this deliberately leaves out: employer NI, pension and overtime cover on absent days; recruitment fees above the Oxford Economics average for senior roles; and tribunal risk, which starts around £64,645 based on Lynskey v Direct Line. The real number is higher than the one on your screen.
Why the Cost of Menopause to Employers Is Bigger Than the Sick-Day Line
Nationally, menopause costs UK employers around 14 million working days a year. The NHS Confederation puts the economic impact of women leaving work because of symptoms at £1.5 billion a year, with an estimated 60,000 women out of employment altogether.
Your slice of that is not evenly spread. It concentrates in your most experienced people: the supervisors, the finance manager, the ops lead who trained everyone else. When CIPD research says 17% of symptomatic women have considered leaving and 6% actually left, that is not a junior-churn statistic. It is your hardest-to-replace people pricing up the exit, and at £30,614 average replacement cost each, the calculator is being polite. See our full menopause workplace statistics page for the national picture.
What to Do With Your Number
Most of the cost above is removable for less than one month’s worth of it. A policy, trained managers and documented adjustments deal with the absence and presenteeism drivers; the attrition line falls when women stop having to choose between the job and the symptoms. CIPD found supported employees report markedly better outcomes at work than unsupported ones.
The clock matters too. Voluntary menopause action plans arrive under the Employment Rights Act 2025 from 6 April 2026, and become mandatory for employers with 250 or more employees from the 2027/28 reporting year. Read our guide to menopause employer obligations in 2027, then talk to us about closing the gap before it is a legal one.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is an evidence-based estimate, not an audit. Every coefficient comes from named UK research, we apply the symptom rate only to your 40–60 age band, and we use a salary-only day rate. Where we assume, we say so on the results panel. Real costs in most businesses will be higher, because NI, pension, cover and tribunal risk are excluded.
Presenteeism is being at work but unable to perform: brain fog through a client meeting, a bad night before a long shift. CIPD found 79% of women with symptoms report reduced concentration at work. It never appears on an absence report, which is exactly why employers underestimate the cost of menopause. We estimate it at a conservative 50% of absence cost and label it as an assumption.
£30,614 on average, according to Oxford Economics: about £5,400 in recruitment logistics and £25,200 in lost output while the replacement gets up to speed over roughly 28 weeks. For experienced staff, the group most affected by menopause, it is usually more.
Three moves, in order: a menopause policy so people know where they stand, manager training so the first conversation goes right, and documented adjustments so symptoms stop turning into sick days and resignations. Most adjustments cost pounds. Book a free 30-minute consultation and we will tell you which of the three you actually need.
Turn the Estimate Into a Plan
Book a free 30-minute consultation. Bring your number; we will tell you how much of it is removable, what it would cost to remove, and whether you need us at all.
Serving employers in Bolton, Manchester, Salford, Stockport, Wigan, Warrington, Bury, Rochdale, Preston, Lancaster and Chester. · Last reviewed: July 2026