WPA LifeStage Health [1] enables employers to facilitate access to expert healthcare to support women throughout the events that happen naturally and predictably during the course of their lives. Raising awareness and knowledge gives personalised insights to increase wellbeing and helps prevent those conditions that are avoidable. It recognises that for some, these different life stages can lead to physical and mental challenges that impact their wellbeing, their families and their careers.
- 63% of women said their working life had been negatively affected by their menstrual symptoms
- 1 in 10 women live with endometriosis, 4 in 10 women with endometriosis fear losing their job because of it, and over a third say they earn less because of it
- Menopausal women are now the fastest growing workforce demographic Almost 8 out of 10 menopausal women are in work, 3 out of 4 women experience symptoms and 1 in 4 could experience serious symptoms leading them to consider leaving work .
Sharon Shier, WPA's Head of Product Development comments: "We wanted to design a solution to help raise awareness and break taboos around women's health, not just around the menopause but across the distinct journey of being a woman. WPA LifeStage Health recognises the challenges that occur naturally throughout women's lives including periods, contraception, fertility, pregnancy, as well as the peri and post menopause phases.
LifeStage Health has been designed with flexibility in mind, allowing companies to supplement existing healthcare benefits or as a standalone benefit for those not currently within the company scheme. By offering it to staff (and their families), companies are likely to improve retention and recruitment while supplementing their diversity and inclusion strategy".
Brian Goodman, WPA's Executive Director of Large Corporate Customers, comments "We anticipate this being the first of a number of LifeStage products that recognise and support diversity within the workforce. The power of LifeStage Health is its ability to flex the benefits to complement corporate healthcare strategies."
Debra Clark, Head of Specialist Consulting at Towergate Health & Protection, says "It's great to see a health insurer recognising the broader challenges faced by employers and the female workforce.
LifeStage Health is an innovative solution that helps companies and working women thrive and I'm looking forward to working with WPA and sharing it with my network".
Lauren Chiren, CEO of Women of a Certain Stage [2], immediately saw the benefit of LifeStage Health as "Helping companies attract and retain women of all ages, increase attendance, engagement and productivity as well as ensure women feel supported and psychologically safe to ask for the help and support they need, without fear of stigma, or being seen as weak or vulnerable.
She continues, "LifeStage Health is raising awareness of female issues, correcting unconscious bias and breaking down the workplace taboos around these issues. WPA is helping companies make a commitment to all female employees, showing that life's natural challenges can be supported and helped; indeed, this is a proposition that will be equally valued by companies and women."
For further information visit WPA LifeStage Health [3]