We tend to think of menopause as a personal health issue - but in the workplace it quietly shows up as one of the largest unmodeled productivity shifts in the modern economy.
Recent data from the Korn Ferry Institute, in collaboration with Vira Health, suggests nearly half of women report that perimenopause or menopause symptoms impact their work performance. And research cited by the Mayo Clinic estimates menopause-related productivity loss in the U.S. alone at roughly $1.8 billion annually.
So the question becomes: what happens when a normal biological transition starts to meaningfully affect workforce participation, retention, and productivity?
Karen Bishop, MS is Senior Director of HR Rewards at Astellas Pharma US ( https://www.astellas.com/en ), where she leads global benefits, compensation strategy, and employee well-being programs.
Across more than two decades in HR leadership roles at organizations including MilliporeSigma, Shire (now Takeda), Cabot Corporation, and Putnam Investments, Karen has built deep expertise in total rewards strategy, healthcare benefits design, retirement systems, and organizational change.
At Astellas, Karen has helped evolve an internal menopause workplace pledge into a broader global initiative focused on manager education, employee support systems, and benefits navigation - positioning menopause as part of a larger conversation around workforce health, retention, and productivity.
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