On the shortlist: Menopause Affinity Group – Capco

Capco’s Menopause Affinity Group, shortlisted for the 2025 DEI Innovation Award, was founded in 2024 by employees who turned lived experience into lasting organisational change. Recognising that 13% of Capco UK’s female workforce is aged 40 and above — a figure set to rise to 20% within five years — the group identified an urgent inclusion and retention opportunity.

Within its first year, the group signed the Wellbeing of Women Menopause Workplace Pledge, launched a bespoke Capco Menopause Framework, and embedded menopause support across culture, education, and workplace practices. Partnering with Henpicked, Bupa, and Aviva, they transformed awareness into action through storytelling, peer-led drop-ins, and inclusive policies.

What began as grassroots advocacy has evolved into a firmwide movement backed by senior leadership, normalising menopause conversations and influencing wider DEI strategy. The group’s work now serves as a blueprint for inclusive, sustainable culture change across financial services.

We asked the team a few questions about the Menopause Affinity Group.

The Menopause Affinity Group was born from lived experience and employee initiative – why was it so important to create this group at Capco, and what impact has it had so far?

In 2024, Capco colleagues experiencing peri- and menopause transformed lived experience and curiosity into positive action, founding an employee-led Menopause Affinity Group to challenge stigma, raise awareness and create lasting cultural change.

We set out to reframe the peri- and menopause narrative, from a “women-only” or negative experience to one of shared understanding and opportunity, recognising that it touches everyone, whether experiencing it personally or supporting a colleague, family member or client.

With 13 percent of Capco UK’s female workforce aged 40 and above, projected to rise to 20 percent within five years, the group recognised both an inclusion and retention imperative. Acting quickly, we turned insight into implementation, embedding menopause support into the fabric of the organisation.

Within the first year, we signed the Wellbeing Menopause Workplace Pledge committing to sustained action by launching a bespoke Capco Menopause Framework spanning culture, education, workplace practices and policies. External expertise and partnerships have accelerated adoption, engagement and improved employee access to support.

The results are visible: authentic storytelling through Capco Friday Reflections, monthly peer-led drop-ins, more flexible working and workplace adjustments to support symptoms, and growing allyship across all levels normalising menopause conversations. What began as grassroots advocacy is now a cornerstone of Capco’s equitable, high-performing workplace culture and a model inspiring other internal networks to follow suit.

How have employees engaged with the Menopause Affinity Group, and what feedback or stories stand out to you most?

Storytelling has been the thread across all our employee programming and acts as a powerful catalyst for change, helping to transform personal experiences into collective understanding.

Our Client Partner courageously shared her own menopause journey with Capco’s UK leadership in an open, emotional and inspiring way which secured visible senior sponsorship and allyship at the highest level.

Her openness inspired a series of Friday Reflections posts — personal, first-hand accounts from colleagues at different stages of perimenopause and menopause. One particularly impactful story came from a Senior Consultant, who spoke candidly about topics often considered “taboo”, including heavy periods. Her reflection also showcased how her Performance Manager’s proactive support and informed adjustments enabled her to thrive in her role and maintain confidence at work.

We have received candidate citations of Capco’s menopause support as a differentiator during recruitment.

Attendance has risen from single-digit participation in our early events to consistently strong double-digit turnout across education and awareness sessions — including our Menopause & Family Relationships session with Henpicked and our recent World Menopause Day event, Thriving with Confidence: Lifestyle Medicine Strategies, with menopause and lifestyle expert Geeta Sidhu-Robb.

The Group are invited to present at townhalls, Mental Health First Aid forums, and collaborate with other Capco Affinity Groups — most recently with Gender Queer — which has truly embedded menopause awareness into Capco’s intersectional programming.

You’ve developed the bespoke Capco Menopause Framework as part of this work. How does it link into the wider business strategy and ensure menopause support is embedded into culture, policies, and leadership behaviours?

Our Framework integrates menopause support into Capco’s people strategy and everyday culture across three pillars:

• Culture & Engagement: storytelling, allyship, and peer networks.

• Policies & Practices: inclusive language, symptom-sensitive adjustments, paid menopause leave.

• Education & Training: equipping leaders and managers with the confidence, empathy and capability to support colleagues.

By supporting women through key life stages, the framework aligns with Capco’s strategic goals of retaining diverse talent, enabling high performance, and strengthening leadership succession.

No innovation comes without challenges — what hurdles did you face in getting this initiative off the ground, and what adaptations did you need to make along the way?

First, normalising the conversation — moving from private experiences to an open, firm-wide dialogue built on psychological safety and confidence for both employees and managers to discuss menopause and seek adjustments without stigma.

Second, securing investment and sponsorship for an employee-led idea in a constrained budget environment required persistence, creativity and a strong business case.

We overcame both through a blend of data and empathy: demographic analysis, emerging UK legislative policy direction on menopause action plans, and authentic employee stories reframed menopause as a strategic inclusion and retention priority, not a niche wellbeing topic — aligning it with Capco’s Be Yourself At Work (BYAW) culture.

We iterated quickly, co-designing a refreshed Capco Menopause Ecosystem of Support, rebuilding our internal Peri & Menopause Hub for cost-effective signposting, and piloting peer drop-ins before scaling across London and Scotland.

Applying an intersectional lens, we collaborated across Family & Carers, LGBTQ+, and other networks to ensure diverse lived experiences were represented. The result is a sustainable, evidence-led model that delivers real culture change — proving that innovation, even on a modest budget, can drive measurable inclusion and impact.

Partnerships with organisations such as Henpicked and healthcare providers have been central to your approach. How have these external experts supported your work and what difference have they made?

We have drawn on recognised UK best practice, including Wellbeing of Women’s Menopause Pledge resources and Menopause Friendly Employer standards, to shape our Capco Menopause Framework and align with benchmarks.

Henpicked, one of the UK’s leading workplace menopause specialists, has been our strategic training partner. Their engaging, evidence-led approach transformed traditional HR learning into interactive, empowering sessions. Insights from their work directly informed the launch of Menopause Awareness Training for all employees, ensuring colleagues are equipped to recognise, discuss and support menopause confidently from day one.

Our health benefit partners, Aviva and Bupa, strengthened our Menopause Wellbeing offering by improving access to symptom-specific support. Bupa’s manager-focused materials have been particularly valuable. Taking a holistic view of wellbeing, Unmind and Wellhub tools have complemented the offering.

To encourage open dialogue, we introduced anonymous question forms before events — creating a safe way for employees to ask sensitive or “taboo” questions.

Together, these partnerships have driven engagement, enhanced capability, and normalised menopause support across Capco.

Looking ahead, how will you measure long-term success for the Menopause Affinity Group, and what wider impact do you expect this initiative to have on recruitment, retention, and inclusion across underrepresented groups at Capco?

We are measuring success through the FY25/26 Menopause Affinity Roadmap, demonstrating Capco’s ongoing commitment to the Wellbeing of Women Menopause Pledge.

Longer term, we will benchmark externally (e.g., seeking accreditation/readiness against Menopause Friendly standards) and prepare for the UK Government’s forthcoming Menopause Action Plan, which calls for employers to embed structured support and reporting.

Despite being in its early stages, we will track progress via quantitative and qualitative indicators — evidence of behavioural change, retention, and leadership confidence.

Key metrics include:

• Capability & Reach: percentage of managers trained (target 95%); unique visitors to the new Peri Menopause & Menopause Hub.

• Policy Utilisation: uptake of paid menopause leave, flexible working, and adjustments.

• Engagement & Culture: attendance at learning events; participation in peer drop-ins; wellbeing responses in Capco’s UK Pulse Survey.

• Talent Outcomes: retention and progression of women 40+; reduction in unplanned exits citing health reasons.

Longer term, this initiative will strengthen recruitment, retention and allyship across Capco’s diverse networks, embedding menopause awareness as a model of inclusive practice that benefits all underrepresented groups.