About Natasha Letchford

Natasha Letchford is a Senior Associate in the Employment team at law firm Wilsons and she supports a variety of employer clients including charities, schools and individual employers on issues including managing absences, disciplinaries and grievances and employment documentation such as contracts and handbooks.

Posts by Natasha Letchford:

March 26, 2024

Menopause gift bags and monitoring toilet breaks: why are employers getting menopause support so wrong?

by Natasha Letchford • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

A recent story involving Avanti West Coast, who provided a gift bag to staff experiencing menopause, is the latest in a series of misjudgements of menopause support by employers. The bag contained items such as a fan “for the hot sweats”, a jelly baby “in case you feel like biting someone’s head off” and a paper clip “to help you keep it all together”. The ASLEF Union suggested that rather than “insulting gimmicks” Avanti should focus their efforts on developing workplace policies and procedures that “value and support perimenopausal and menopausal women”. So what should employers be doing to provide adequate support and why are so many getting it wrong? More →