HOW TO SUPPORT AN EMPLOYEE WITH A CHRONIC HEALTH CONDITION

In the United States, 60 percent of adults have at least one chronic health condition: illnesses or conditions that last at least one year, require ongoing management and restrict an individual’s activities. These numbers don’t include Covid-19 “long-haulers,” or the 10 percent of those who experience lingering symptoms, including fatigue, gastrointestinal problems and chest pain, for weeks, months or longer after contracting the coronavirus.

Supporting employees with such health conditions isn’t just the right thing to do—it will help you retain them and convey the message that you value your employees as people.

In recent research, a group of colleagues and I found that conflicts between work and health management are common for workers with chronic health conditions. For example, it can be difficult for an individual working with a chronic health condition to maintain attendance requirements while also going to medical appointments and managing symptoms.

We studied four samples of workers with chronic health conditions in various occupations and found two main categories of conflict: time conflicts (where time spent working interferes with the time people need to manage their health conditions) and energy conflicts (where energy allocated to work takes away from the energy people need to manage their health conditions). We found that high levels of time and energy conflict were associated with higher levels of worker burnout.

In supporting workers with chronic health conditions, leaders at all organizational levels have an important role to play.

To start, organizations should have formal policies in place to accommodate workers with chronic health conditions. These may include opportunities for flexible work arrangements, reduced work hours or “reduced-load work,” job task modifications and sick leave — all of which should be made available without the risk of the employees losing their health care benefits.

Health conditions manifest differently, and rarely will a onesize-fits-all approach be effective. While formal policies are important, managers should also be given some flexibility to meet their employees’ needs in creative ways. For example, a study participant had generalized anxiety disorder, which included panic attacks that would happen at work. That person's supervisor was able to implement a creative solution to support the worker in managing anxiety-related work challenges: “After a particularly bad patch, my employer assigned me part-time assistants from other departments who were looking for extra hours. They’re essentially on call, and I can use them to make sure tasks are taken care of if they involve things that are likely to provoke my anxiety.”

While policies and special arrangements are important, employees need to feel free to use them and to ask for help when needed. Actively cultivating a supportive culture that prioritizes work-life balance and employee well-being is therefore critical. This goes beyond just saying that employee well-being is important. One way leaders can signal that it’s OK to prioritize health is to be open about their own health challenges and use the company’s benefits, policies or accommodations when needed.

In conjunction with these changes, organizations should make supportive programs available to help empower workers with chronic health conditions to navigate their challenges. My colleagues and I found that a 12-week, sixsession, one-on-one coaching program, conducted over the phone, for workers with chronic health conditions helped them manage work challenges. In a randomized trial, we found that coaching led to improvements in resilience and well-being, along with reductions in exhaustion. Importantly, this coaching focused on empowering, strategizing and problem-solving, with the goal of improving the participants’ confidence in their ability to continue working in the face of the challenges their health conditions posed.

In a follow-up study, a colleague and I found that coaching also helped participants integrate needed health-related changes into their lives to maintain employment—for example, adopting assistive devices and accommodations they had previously resisted—and learn new ways to manage their professional identities through effective communication about their conditions.

For managers, it can be hard to know what to say or how to react when an employee discloses health issues or exhibits symptoms at work that interfere with performance. It’s critical to train managers on supporting employees with health conditions by communicating empathetically about sensitive topics, looking for behavioral warnings and providing accommodations.

Here are some do’s and don’ts for managers navigating healthrelated conversations with their employees to supplement formal training:

▪ DO work on building trust with employees. This will help provide a foundation for them to feel comfortable approaching you with a health-related issue later if the need arises.

▪ DO display empathy and compassion if a worker discloses a health condition.

▪ DON’T violate your workers' boundaries. Disclosing their conditions to you is likely anxiety-inducing for them, so pay attention and react with the level of gravity the situation deserves. Say something kind, but do not ask for details about a person's diagnosis, symptoms or course of illness.

n DON’T be tempted to reveal your own personal issues in response to employees' health disclosures—keep the focus on your interlocutor.

n DON’T catastrophize or jump to a worst-case scenario, despite what you know or think you know about a person's particular health issue.

n DO listen carefully and ask what your employees need in order to continue doing their job to their (and your) expectations. Express empathy, but also keep the focus on the job.

n DON’T be afraid to draw a boundary. You don’t need to commit to a course of action right away. Talk with human resources if needed, and come up with a thoughtful solution that helps your employees manage their health conditions while also meeting necessary work targets.

n DO tell your employees that the conversation does not need to end after they have disclosed an issue. Open the door for them to come to you in the future if things change.

n DO point your employees to available employer-sponsored resources, such as employee assistance, disability and return-towork programs. Make a list of these in advance that you can easily access when needed.

Covid-19 has highlighted existing challenges many employees with chronic health conditions have been facing in the workplace. Organizational leaders who support these workers by implementing formal but flexible policies, providing coaching and training managers to have sensitive conversations will send a signal that they value their employees and care about retaining them. But more importantly, it’s the right thing to do.