For years, workplace wellbeing has focused on stress, resilience, and productivity. We talk about burnout, flexible working, and mental health. All important. All necessary.

But there’s something missing from the conversation.

Hormones.

For many women, how work feels is shaped not just by deadlines or pressure, but by what’s happening in their bodies. Energy shifts. Focus comes and goes. Confidence rises and dips. Emotional tolerance changes. Stress feels manageable one week and overwhelming the next.

And yet, most workplaces are built on the assumption that people will show up the same way, every day, all year long.

When that expectation meets real human biology, something has to give.

What We’re Actually Talking About When We Say “Hormones”

When people hear “hormones”, they often think of mood swings or something vaguely personal that should be kept out of professional life.

That’s not what we’re talking about here.

Hormones are chemical messengers that help regulate how the brain and body function. They influence energy, attention, memory, motivation, emotional regulation, sleep, and how we respond to stress.

Hormones like oestrogen, progesterone, cortisol, and testosterone interact closely with brain chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. Together, they shape how focused you feel, how resilient you are under pressure, and how quickly you recover when things feel intense.

When hormone levels shift, the brain processes information differently. Concentration can dip. Anxiety can rise. Sensory input can feel louder. Emotional regulation can take more effort.

Across the menstrual cycle, during perimenopause and menopause, and in periods of prolonged stress, these systems are constantly adjusting. For some people, the impact is subtle. For others, it’s impossible to ignore.

This is why capacity isn’t fixed. It changes.

Once you understand that, the idea that performance should look the same every single day starts to fall apart.

Hormones Aren’t a Personal Problem to Manage Quietly

Hormones are often treated as something women should deal with privately. Push through. Don’t make it awkward. Don’t let it show.

But hormones influence how bodies and brains work. They shape sleep, cognition, emotional regulation, sensory processing, and stress tolerance. When hormone levels shift, capacity shifts too.

That isn't a weakness. It’s biology.

Ignoring hormonal health at work doesn’t make it disappear. It just means people carry it alone.

Why Work Feels Harder at Certain Times

Many women recognise this pattern instantly.

There are weeks where work feels manageable, even enjoyable. Focus is clearer. Energy is steadier. Conversations feel easier. Then there are weeks where fatigue hits harder, brain fog creeps in, patience runs thin, and even simple tasks feel heavy.

Some women live with severe cycle-related conditions like PMDD, endometriosis, or adenomyosis. Others find things shift dramatically during perimenopause or menopause. Neurodivergent women often feel these changes more intensely.

Too often, these experiences turn into self blame.

Why can’t I just be consistent?
Why does this feel harder for me than everyone else?
Why am I struggling when I’m capable?

The issue isn’t capability. It’s workplaces built around the idea that humans are linear.

What Happens When Hormonal Health Is Ignored

When hormonal health isn’t acknowledged at work, the patterns are familiar.

Women push through pain, fatigue, anxiety, and overwhelm. They use annual leave to recover. They quietly reduce hours. They stop putting themselves forward. Some leave roles they once loved.

Talent is lost not because women lack ambition or resilience, but because the cost of staying becomes too high.

This isn’t just a wellbeing issue. It’s a retention issue. A performance issue. An equity issue.

What Elite Sport Has Figured Out

What’s interesting is that some of the most performance driven environments in the world already take hormones seriously.

In elite sport, hormonal cycles aren’t ignored. They’re leveraged.

High performance teams understand that hormonal fluctuations affect energy, recovery, focus, coordination, injury risk, and emotional regulation. Female athletes are increasingly supported to train, recover, and compete in ways that work with their cycles rather than against them.

Training loads are adjusted. Recovery is planned. Performance is optimised.

Not because it’s kind. Because it works.

Elite sport accepts a simple truth: Bodies aren’t linear, and pretending they are limits performance.

So it raises an uncomfortable question. If elite sport is willing to adapt systems to get the best out of people’s bodies, why does the corporate world still expect flat, consistent output every single day?

In many workplaces, biology is treated as though it stops at the door. Energy is assumed to be constant. Focus is expected on demand. Capacity is measured in straight lines.

The irony is hard to ignore. In sport, responding to hormones is seen as strategic and evidence based. In work, it’s often dismissed as inconvenient or unprofessional.

Yet the goal is the same. Sustainable performance. Reduced burnout. Better outcomes over time.

What Hormone Informed Workplaces Do Differently

Supporting hormonal health at work doesn’t mean becoming medical experts or tracking anyone’s cycle.

It means understanding that capacity fluctuates. Allowing flexibility in how and when work gets done. Creating psychological safety so people can be honest without fear. Training managers to respond with curiosity rather than judgement.

It means offering adjustments without forcing people to justify themselves again and again.

Most importantly, it means stopping the expectation that everyone must perform the same way, every day, regardless of what’s happening in their bodies.

Why This Matters for Employers

Workplaces that understand hormonal health don’t lower standards. They make performance more sustainable.

They retain talent. Reduce burnout. Improve engagement. And create cultures where people can do their best work without constantly pushing against themselves.

Hormonal health isn’t a niche issue. It’s a missing piece in how we think about work, wellbeing, and performance.

Turn understanding into action

If you’re serious about improving performance, retention, and wellbeing, hormonal health cannot be an afterthought.

At See Her Thrive, we help organisations move beyond awareness and into action. We work with teams, managers, and leaders to build hormone informed workplaces where people can do their best work without burning out or pushing through in silence.

Our work is practical, evidence based, and grounded in real working lives.

Get in touch at hello@seeherthrive.com to explore how we can support your organisation.

Hormones at Work: The Missing Link in Workplace Wellbeing