Follow one employee through menopause: A 20-year journey
Menopause doesn’t happen in a moment. It happens in the background of a career. Follow one employee, Maria, through perimenopause, menopause, and beyond — and see what most benefits strategies miss along the way.
At a glance: Perimenopause
Perimenopause is the time before menopause when the body is getting ready to stop having periods. Here’s what Maria can expect:
When symptoms start:
Late 30s–40s. Hormones start fluctuating unpredictably — which is why symptoms can feel scattered rather than obviously connected. Common symptoms include disrupted sleep, fatigue, trouble focusing and weight changes.
How this impacts work:
Maria’s stepping into a director role, or she’s the manager other people go to. But while she’s leading more, she’s sleeping less, and losing the words mid-sentence in a meeting she used to run without a second thought. Maria doesn’t have a name for it yet — so neither does anyone managing her performance review.
Finding care — and running into road blocks:
Maria seeks out a primary care visit for sleep, and searches for another provider to help manage her mood. When nothing changes, she books another appointment weeks down the line. With long wait times and scattered care, none of the claims are filed under “menopause” — so none of them show up as one cost.
How Maven helps:
A Care Advocate starts connecting the dots — matching Maria to OB-GYN, mental health, and nutrition support before the symptoms are severe enough to have a name.
At a glance: Menopause
Menopause describes the stage of a woman’s life when her menstrual periods stop permanently, and she can no longer get pregnant. Here’s what Maria can expect:
When symptoms start:
Average age 51–52 (twelve months post-final period). Vasomotor symptoms — hot flashes, night sweats — arrive alongside the same brain fog and mood shifts from before, but often more intensely.
How this impacts work:
Maria in her peak-earning years — the VP other departments borrow, the person whose calendar nobody wants to move. She’s still delivering — but she’s doing it while managing something she’s keeping to herself. Nearly half of women say menopause has affected their job performance directly, and 69% have reported they don’t feel comfortable sharing their symptoms in the workplace.
Finding care — and running into road blocks:
By now Maria may be seeing three or four specialists across endocrinology, gynecology, mental health, and primary care — each treating one piece. Followed individually, those visits can add up to more than a year of comprehensive care.
How Maven helps:
Members have one care team and same-day access to menopause-trained specialists, hormonal and non-hormonal pathways, and the coaching and mental health support that a prescription alone doesn’t cover. Employees with access to Maven’s support save $1,600 for their employer in productivity and healthcare costs.
At a glance: Post-menopause
Post-menopause is the time after menopause, when a woman hasn’t had a period for a year. Here’s what Maria can expect:
When symptoms start:
60s and beyond. Some symptoms ease, though new long-term considerations — bone, heart, and cognitive health — move into focus.
How this impacts work:
Maria contemplating an early retirement, but losing her now costs more than a hiring line item — it costs decades of institutional knowledge.
Finding care — and running into road blocks:
For most employers, her benefit strategy stopped accounting for this stage. There’s no plan for what comes after the immediate menopause symptoms, leaving a gap where ongoing care should be.
How Maven helps:
Ongoing support built for the decade-plus this stage actually spans, and care that doesn’t end when the acute symptoms do.
The full employee experience: Perimenopause
Click through to explore what a woman going through perimenopause is experiencing with her symptoms, how it impacts her work, and what happens when her care is fragmented and uncoordinated.
Perimenopause at a glance
Age 38–40
How she’s feeling
- Waking at 3am, cannot get back to sleep
- Cycles shifting by a few days
- Low-grade irritability
How she’s working
- Newly promoted
- Reads fatigue as the cost of the job
Time to make an appointment
PCP appointment. Coded diagnosis for:
- Insomnia
- Thyroid panel, CBC
Age 41–43
How she’s feeling
- Anxiety with no trigger
- Heart racing at night
- Mood swings out of proportion
How she’s working
- Brain fog in meetings
- Writes everything down
- Questions her recall
- Productivity impacted, anxiety spikes
Time to make an appointment
- Primary care
- Psychiatry
- Therapy
- Urgent care or ER
Coded as
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- SSRI initiation
- EKG with clean cardiology follow-up
Age 43–45
How she’s feeling
- Anxiety with no trigger
- Heart racing at night
- Mood swings out of proportion
How she’s working
- Brain fog in meetings
- Writes everything down
- Questions her recall
- Productivity impacted, anxiety spikes
Time to make an appointment
- Primary care
- Psychiatry
- Therapy
- Urgent care or ER
Coded as
- Generalized anxiety disorder
- SSRI initiation
- EKG with clean cardiology follow-up
Age 45–48
How she’s feeling
- Word-finding difficulty
- Weight gain that will not respond
- Bloating, unpredictable digestion
How she’s working
- First performance review that reads slightly cooler
- Losing the thread mid-presentation
Time to make an appointment
- Neurology
- Neuropsych testing
- Gastroenterology
- Weight management
Coded as
- Adult ADHD, ongoing stimulant spend
- Brain MRI, cognitive evaluation
- IBS
- Obesity, GLP-1 prescribing
The full employee experience: Menopause
Click through to explore what a woman going through menopause is experiencing with her symptoms, how it impacts her work, and what happens when her care is fragmented and uncoordinated.
Want to know more about menopause?
Menopause at a glance
Age 49–51
How she’s feeling
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Everything from before, still present
How she’s working
- VP level
- Managing symptoms through a full calendar, telling no one
Time to make an appointment
- OB-GYN, after a long wait
Coded as
- Vasomotor symptoms
- A hormone therapy conversation that may or may not happen
Age 51–54
How she’s feeling
- Recurrent UTIs
- Bladder urgency
- Vaginal dryness, painful sex
- Hair thinning
- Dry eyes
How she’s working
- Nothing visible
- The stage that costs most and shows least
Time to make an appointment
- Urgent care, repeatedly
- Urology
- Urogynecology, pelvic floor PT
- Dermatology
- Optometry
Coded as
- Recurrent UTI, repeat antibiotics
- Overactive bladder, interstitial cystitis
- Androgenic alopecia
- Dry eye syndrome
- Genitourinary symptoms often unreported
The full employee experience: Post-Menopause
Tap through and explore what a woman going through post-menopause is experiencing with her symptoms, how it impacts her work, and what happens when her care is fragmented and uncoordinated.
Post-menopause at a glance
Age 54–58
How she’s feeling
- Cholesterol climbing
- Blood pressure climbing
- Sleep apnea onset or worsening
- Persistent fatigue
How she’s working
- Peak institutional value
- Starting to think about how long she wants to keep doing this
Time to make an appointment
- Cardiology
- Endocrinology
- Sleep medicine
Coded as
- Dyslipidemia, statin initiation
- Hypertension
- Obstructive sleep apnea, sleep study, CPAP
- Prediabetes, fatty liver
Age 58–62
How she’s feeling
- Vasomotor symptoms ease for many women
- Bone density loss
- Cardiovascular risk
- GSM continues, untreated
How she’s working
- Evaluating early retirement
- Losing her costs decades of institutional knowledge
Time to make an appointment
- Endocrinology
- Orthopedics
- Primary care
Coded as
- Osteopenia, osteoporosis
- DEXA scanning
- Bisphosphonate therapy
- Continued cardiac risk management
Age 62+
How she’s feeling
- Fragility fracture
- Cardiac event
- The claims that dominate the cost picture
Where the spend actually shows up
- Cardiology
- Orthopedics
- Behavioral health
- Urology
- Gastroenterology
- Dermatology
- Pharmacy
What it never shows up as
- Menopause
Followed one employee at a time, the true cost of unmanaged menopause is bigger than most benefits reviews ever see.
Maven brings it into view, and brings the care that changes it.
Without Maven
Over a decade
Up to 18
Misdiagnoses like ADHD, IBS, fibromyalgia, GAD, recurrent UTI
Scattered across 7+ specialty categories
Invisible
With
Care within weeks through a coordinated care team. Maven offers same-day appointment availability, with an average wait of under one hour to see a specialist.
One coordinated care team
Symptoms evaluated as one condition
Visible and managed
Measurable