More than 20 million Australians have a minimum of one long-term health condition, 63% of whom are within the workforce.
The causes of chronic illness are complex and are sometimes unconnected to an individual’s work. But at times, the continued exposure to work stressors can result in or exacerbate chronic health conditions including musculoskeletal disorders, heart disease, anxiety and depression.
Our research found 73% of individuals believed their chronic illness was a minimum of partially caused or worsened by their job. Almost one in five people believed work entirely caused or worsened their illness.
These findings accord with data from Safe Work Australia which indicates health conditions (particularly mental health) account for an increasing proportion of great staff’ compensation claims.
Our research also found individuals with chronic illness were more likely to report various types of workplace discrimination, including being rejected from a job (63%), being treated unfairly within the workplace (65%) and harassment (52%).
So what are employers getting so incorrect? And what are the solutions to improving working conditions for individuals with chronic illnesses?
Employers’ responsibilities have grown
In 2022, Safe Work Australia updated its work health and safety regulations to incorporate specific guidelines on the management of “psychosocial” hazards within the workplace.
A psychosocial hazard is anything that could cause psychological and physical harm, including the design or management of labor and workplace interactions or behaviours.
Common examples include job demands, low job control, poor support, lack of role clarity, exposure to traumatic events, harassment and bullying. The failure to eliminate or minimise psychosocial hazards could cause work-related stress, resulting unwell outcomes for staff.
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Organisations need to enhance their engagement and management of chronically unwell staff to satisfy their legal obligations.
How employers are getting it incorrect
Few organisations have sophisticated approaches to managing employees who’re chronically unwell. And managers often feel ill-equipped to effectively support chronically unwell employees.
Instead, there’s an inclination to depend on outmoded human resource and occupational health and safety systems originally designed to accommodate short-term absences and acute illnesses.
Return-to-work policies are inclined to fall short because they assume a phased and linear return to full working capability. This is usually not the case for individuals with chronic illness, whose symptoms could also be degenerative or fluctuate over time.
Chronically unwell staff are rarely considered in organisational diversity and inclusion policies and procedures. At best, they might be incorporated into umbrella disability policies, which might be problematic as individuals with chronic illness don’t necessarily self-identify as “disabled”.
Many chronically unwell staff fly under the radar. This is partly because organisations don’t collect this data nevertheless it’s also as a consequence of the usually invisible nature of chronic illness. Someone living with conditions similar to long COVID or endometriosis, for instance, may present as unimpaired to their colleagues. However, they’ll often be coping with complex, fluctuating symptoms which can be largely invisible at work.
Workers may additionally select not to reveal their illness as a consequence of fears of being stigmatised, treated otherwise, or omitted for promotion. Our research on leaders living with chronic illness found only 18% fully disclosed their illness to their employer. Almost three-quarters of leaders with chronic illness (73%) deliberately hid their illness at work.
What can employers do?
Here are 3 ways employers can begin to proactively meet their obligations to staff with chronic illness.
1. Make adjustments
Workers with chronic illness sometimes experience fluctuations of their condition which might impact their ability to finish tasks or meet deadlines. It could also be obligatory for managers to contemplate sensitively discussing a revised work schedule, the delegation of time-sensitive tasks, or discuss implementing reasonable adjustments to enhance workflow.
These might be difficult conversations, but engaging with them directly means employers can allocate the resources they need to satisfy their business objectives, while also reducing worker experiences of overwhelm.
2. Accept reasonable requests
Workers with chronic illness may require reasonable adjustments, similar to flexible working, to enable them to perform to the very best of their ability.
Take these requests at face value and minimise the executive hurdles related to approving such accommodations. Failing to accomplish that is more likely to erode trust, entrench feelings of not being supported and increase an worker’s psychological distress.
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3. Train managers
Managers may sometimes deny a request for an affordable adjustment based on the idea that this creates a precedent for all team members. Decisions like these can compound feelings of stress, as they might be experienced as an absence of procedural fairness by employees living with chronic illness.
With appropriate training, managers usually tend to recognise that chronically unwell staff are generally not searching for “special treatment”, but ways to work more effectively inside their modified capacities.
By recognising the worth of employees of all abilities, and proactively and systematically addressing the needs of their chronically unwell workforce, employers can minimise prolonged workplace absences and improve the productivity of their workforce.