Supporting workers with chronic health conditions
Being able to support a worker with chronic health conditions might mean the difference between keeping or losing a valuable worker. This may be more of your staff than you think. .
Chronic health conditions include common ailments, such as heart disease, diabetes, severe allergies, mental illness, asthma and arthritis, along with less well-known illnesses that can cause pain or fatigue. The needs of an individual are likely to be unique, but so are the skills and experience that person brings to your company!
Many small- and medium-sized companies lack a formal HR policy, leaving entrepreneurs to figure out how to navigate this terrain on the fly. So how do you make this work?
How chronic conditions affect workers
A suggests many workers with chronic health conditions may have one or more problems on the job:
· Time conflicts, where the employee needs more time to manage their conditions. For example, an employee may need to take time off to attend medical appointments
· Energy conflicts, where the employee finds it difficult to meet both work needs and personal needs with their energy level
· Managing chronic pain
Researcher Alyssa McGonagle found that burnout was correlated to employees who experienced high levels of time and energy conflicts. Another result? Employees might not put in their best work:
The bottom line, though, is that employees with chronic conditions are individuals who may need different accommodations for their unique needs.
8 ways to support workers
1. Listen carefully and empathetically to what the individual needs to do their job properly, but keep the focus on work. You don’t need to immediately say yes to every request. This will likely be a regular check-in conversation rather than a one-and-done. And (unless you’re actually an expert).
2. Consider the possibility for staff to work part-time hours and/or to have a reduced workload with reduced pay, instead of a standard 40-hour work week.
3. Allow work from home if possible, which is one option that has helped ).
4. If requested, let workers take .
5. Try to be flexible if an employee asks to for doctor’s appointments.
6. Ensure workers with chronic illness continue to feel connected to work and coworkers: include them in social events and virtual chats. Particularly if they’re working from home or taking time off, from the flow on the job.
7. Keep your employee’s health information private, unless they ask you to tell other team members. , who works in the tech industry and has Crohn’s disease and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).
8. Act on employee requests for adaptive equipment to make their work life easier, .
Finding a way to accommodate an employee with a chronic health condition can help retain them for longer. Whether you know if your employees need certain accommodations or they haven’t brought up their medical history, talk to all your employees about the services available through their employee benefits, including supports like an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Short Term Disability, and Extended Health Coverage.
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