What Your Business Can Do To Support Women in Midlife and Beyond

In today’s workforce, experience is one of a business’s most valuable assets. And in many organizations, that experience comes from women in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Professionals who hold deep institutional knowledge, lead teams, manage key accounts and serve as anchors of organizational culture.

But midlife is also a time of invisible transitions. Many women in this life stage are juggling late-stage parenting, eldercare responsibilities and personal health changes, including menopause and chronic conditions that often go undiscussed at work. Without intentional support, these challenges can push even high-performing leaders toward burnout or an early exit.

For business leaders, the implications are clear: Failing to support women in midlife isn’t just a cultural oversight. It’s a talent risk.

According to LeanIn.Org’s 2024 Women in the Workplace report, 1 in 4 women consider downshifting or leaving their roles due to a lack of flexibility and caregiving strain. The financial toll of losing that experience adds up fast, with replacement costs ranging from 50% to 200% of an employee’s salary, according to Gallup.

In this article, we’ll break down practical ways businesses can better support midlife women and strengthen their workforce in the process.

Make flexibility a leadership priority

Midlife women often face some of the most complex scheduling demands of their careers.

One day, it’s a 7:00 a.m. specialist appointment for a parent recovering from surgery. The next, a midday call about a college tuition appeal. Add in school drop-offs, physical therapy or managing a spouse’s medical needs and the limits of a strict 9-to-5 schedule quickly become unsustainable.

When work structures are inflexible, the message, intentional or not, is that life must take a back seat to career. For women balancing multiple roles, that message can lead to disengagement or departure.

A 2025 Pew Research study found that 46% of U.S. workers would consider leaving their job if remote work were eliminated. Flexibility empowers experienced employees to contribute at a high level while navigating real life.

Support strategies to consider:

• Normalize flex hours for senior roles. Flexibility shouldn’t be limited to junior staff. When executive leaders model adjusted schedules or remote arrangements, it sets the tone for a culture that values outcomes over office time.
  
• Offer caregiver leave. Many midlife employees are part of the sandwich generation, caring for both children and aging parents. Expanding leave policies to include eldercare demonstrates awareness and builds loyalty.
  
• Pilot phased return-to-work programs. Whether following a health event, surgery or major life change, phased returns give employees time to re-engage without burning out. A 3-month runway with adjusted hours or responsibilities can make the difference between retention and resignation.
  
• Rethink job design with retention in mind. Job-sharing, part-time leadership or project-based roles can be strategic tools for retaining institutional knowledge during seasons of transition. These options also open new pathways for mentoring and succession planning.

Build a culture of belonging, not burnout

For many midlife women, today’s workplace feels built for someone else. They feel increasingly invisible, overlooked for promotions or disconnected from the leadership pipeline.

A 2024 McKinsey Women in the Workplace report found that while women represent nearly half of the entry-level workforce, only 1 in 4 make it to the C-suite, and just 1 in 20 are women of color. When your talent sees no viable path forward, attrition becomes inevitable.

Support strategies to consider:

• Launch mid-career women’s forums or leadership cohorts. Create intentional spaces where women at similar career stages can connect, share strategies and access internal opportunities. These forums can serve as both professional development and retention tools.
  
• Pilot cross-generational mentorship programs. Reverse mentoring — where younger employees share digital expertise and mid-career employees offer institutional insights — builds connection and flattens hierarchy. It’s also a way to break silos between emerging talent and experienced leaders.
  
• Train managers on inclusive leadership and psychological safety. Many well-meaning managers miss signs of burnout or disengagement because they haven’t been trained to spot them. Training helps leaders recognize when experienced team members need support and gives them the tools to respond effectively.
  
• Recognize contributions at all career stages. Make sure recognition programs and promotion pathways don’t unintentionally skew young. Spotlighting mid- and late-career impact signals that experience is valued, not sidelined.

Promote whole-person wellness through policy

Wellness programs often focus on early-career needs with gym stipends, mindfulness apps and lunch-and-learns about sleep. But for midlife professionals, wellness looks different.

It might mean managing a hot flash during a board presentation. Or leading a team meeting after a morning spent at a dialysis appointment for an aging parent. For others, it’s pushing through a full workday while quietly navigating anxiety, grief or identity shifts as children leave home and caregiving demands ramp up.

Despite the challenges, many workplace wellness plans don’t offer direct support. A 2024 SHRM report found that only 5% of U.S. companies offer menopause-specific benefits, despite growing demand and clear links to absenteeism, healthcare costs and leadership attrition.

Forward-looking businesses are taking a broader view of wellness — one that includes physical, emotional and hormonal health across all life stages.

Support Strategies to Consider:

• Cover menopause-specific health benefits. Provide access to telehealth services, hormone therapy and specialists. These benefits are becoming more common in competitive health plans and can directly improve focus and quality of life for midlife professionals.
  
• Expand mental health coverage to include midlife stressors. Ensure your EAP and insurance partners offer providers who understand midlife issues, from caregiver burnout to late-career identity transitions. Normalize using these benefits through internal communications and manager modeling.
  
• Include menopause and chronic conditions in manager training. Managers don’t need to be experts, but they do need to be aware. Brief training sessions can equip them to respond with empathy and flexibility when employees raise concerns.
  
• Provide private wellness spaces or time-off flexibility. A quiet room for symptom management or a more flexible sick leave policy sends a clear message: We trust our people to manage their health, and we want them to stay.

Support midlife women, retain your leadership backbone

In today’s market, the edge goes to companies that retain experience while others let it walk out the door.

By offering flexibility, updating wellness benefits and creating space for mid-career leadership, you can turn retention risk into strategic strength. This not only helps women stay and grow through critical life transitions, it ensures your business continues to benefit from their knowledge and leadership.

Find more strategies for building a resilient workforce and retaining talent for your business at Comerica.com/Insights.