Menopause at work now has its own standard.
What it says, and what it means for you.
ISO published ISO 45010 on 7 September 2026, and Dansk Standard launched it in Denmark on 23 September. It gives workplaces a shared language and a method for supporting employees who go through menopause.
Here is an overview of the standard, whether you are an employee, a manager or work in HR.
The world’s first international standard on menopause in the workplace.
Free to download. Ready to use.
ISO 45010 is titled Occupational health and safety management. Menstruation and menopause in the workplace. Guidance. ISO published it on 7 September 2026 and Dansk Standard launched it in Denmark on 23 September. It belongs to the ISO 45000 family as a companion to ISO 45001 and builds on the British standard BS 30416 from 2023. The standard describes menopause as a stage of life, not an illness, and asks the workplace to remove what makes symptoms worse and the silence around them. It is guidance, not a requirement.
Dansk Standard has already turned the standard into everyday practice.
Dansk Standard launched ISO 45010 in Denmark on 23 September 2026 and has published a free Danish guide to menopause in the workplace together with KiSO at the University of Copenhagen, Foreningen Kvinder & Sundhed and Hormoner på Arbejde. The guide draws on ISO 45010 and on the KiSO research, the same study of 153,800 Danish women that Ryma is built on.
Eight areas, one connected effort.
Physical aspects of work
Access to a toilet, somewhere to rest, cool water and warm drinks. Control of temperature, ventilation, light, noise and odours. Uniforms and protective equipment that breathe and can be adjusted. Often cheap to change.
Policy and practice
A policy, stand-alone or built in, that connects to your rules on absence, flexible working, performance and equality. Written with employees. Menopause counts as a factor in risk assessments, and a workplace adjustment passport follows her if she changes role.
Culture and knowledge
Education for employees and managers, trained representatives she can turn to, and zero tolerance for jokes and dismissal. The standard asks you to point to reliable sources, not to play doctor.
Job design
Breaks, working hours, task allocation, temporary adjustments, remote work and short leave. Agreed with the individual case by case, not from a fixed list.
Disclosure and privacy
Support and adjustments must be reachable without her describing her symptoms. Confidentiality is a precondition, not an option. Our position is the same: nobody should have to explain herself to get help.
Inclusivity
Menopause is experienced differently with age, ethnicity, religion, neurodivergence and gender identity. The policy is written for everyone who goes through it.
Small and medium-sized organisations
A separate section of low-cost, high-impact steps for workplaces without an HR department or a health and safety adviser.
Evaluation
Is what you do working? Wellbeing, use of the policy, absence and retention, followed over time. The standard asks you to measure the effect, not just adopt a policy and file it away.
The tools come with it.
Seven annexes make the standard practical: a conversation guide for managers (Annex B), a checklist for internal review (Annex C), a workplace charter you can sign (Annex F), and a map of where each recommendation fits into ISO 45001 (Annex G).
You do not have to explain yourself to get support.
The standard is guidance, so no workplace is obliged to follow it. But it gives you something to point to when you want to talk about it.
Privacy first
Support and adjustments should be available without you describing your symptoms. You decide what you share, and with whom.
Adjustments are agreed with you
Breaks, working hours, tasks, working from home and short absences are agreed with each person, not taken from a fixed list.
Ask for the policy
The standard asks the workplace to write a policy together with employees. Ask your manager or HR whether your workplace has one.
See how Ryma fits into your work with the standard.
Ryma is the employee's own tool. The workplace never sees an individual's data.
For employers