Hone Health Wants to Make Menopause a Workplace Issue, Not a Personal One
HEALTH & BEAUTY
Hone Health Menopause Time Off (MTO).
Menopause affects roughly half the workforce at some point during their peak earning and leadership years. Yet most American workplaces treat it as a private health matter, something to manage quietly, without accommodations, without policy, and without acknowledgment. Hone Health is making the case that this silence has a measurable cost, and that it's time for employers to act.
Launched during Women's Health Month, Hone Health, a leading personalized longevity care clinic offering menopause care, hormone optimization, and metabolic health programs through testing and physician-led treatment, has announced the Menopause Time Off (MTO) Movement, an initiative to address a widespread and unacknowledged gap in U.S. workplaces: the lack of awareness and support for women managing the chronic and episodic symptoms of menopause.
The Numbers Are Hard to Ignore
In a 2026 Hone Health survey of 1,028 U.S. women ages 30 to 60, nearly 90% reported that at least one menopause symptom has impacted their work. 68% report losing up to 10 hours of productivity per week, more than a full workday, and 62% say symptoms affected their earnings, performance review, or career progression in the past year. More starkly, 18% quit a role or retired because of symptoms.
Despite this scale, fewer than 33% of respondents say their workplace offers menopause-specific leave or accommodations, and 62% have avoided taking time off or asking for support because menopause is not explicitly recognized in workplace policy.
The business cost is substantial. A 2025 RAND report estimates the annual economic cost of menopause symptoms at $5.4 billion in lost productivity.
A Fund for Those Without a Safety Net
As part of the MTO Movement, Hone is launching the MTO Fund, giving away fifty $1,000 microgrants to individuals navigating menopause without access to paid leave, so they can take time to rest or seek medical care without losing pay.
The fund is explicitly designed as a temporary bridge, not a permanent solution. As Hone Health CEO Saad Alam put it directly: if menopause were written into workplace benefits, this fund wouldn't need to exist. He described watching his mother struggle at work while navigating menopause without formal support or recognition, and framed the MTO Movement as a call on employers to treat menopause as a normal life stage that affects both women and business outcomes.
Leading From the Inside Out
To demonstrate what menopause workplace programs can look like in practice, Hone Health is internally introducing Menopause Time Off, giving employees episodic time off and flexible scheduling options to manage symptoms. The program makes it explicitly clear that employees can cite menopause openly when they need time or flexibility, without stigma.
That internal commitment matters. It's one thing to call on employers to act, it's another to build the policy yourself first.
A Movement with Teeth
The MTO Movement is structured to go beyond awareness. It is anchored by an Open Declaration outlining shared principles for menopause-inclusive workplaces, to be supported by signatories across healthcare, business, and policy.
To ensure the movement leads to real change, Hone Health is also providing practical tools for organizations building menopause-friendly programs, including an Employer Toolkit with sample program models and resources, and an Employee Letter Generator that individuals can use to advocate for menopause-inclusive flexibility and workplace culture at their own organizations.
The combination of original data, a temporary relief fund, internal policy adoption, coalition building, and employer tools makes the MTO Movement one of the more substantively constructed workplace health campaigns in recent memory. The argument is simple: menopause is not a personal failing to be quietly endured, it is a workforce health issue with a documented economic cost, and the workplaces that ignore it are paying a price whether they acknowledge it or not.