Being in work with a long-term condition is tough. Not everybody with a condition of this nature is able to work, and among those who are, pursuing a career often comes hand-in-hand with workplace challenges and access barriers. Here are five introductory ways to better support employees with long-term conditions in your workforce.
- Offer flexible working
In the modern world, workplace flexibility is crucial for attracting top talent to businesses. But did you know that for people with long term and energy limiting conditions, flexible working is not only an asset, but often critical for finding and remaining in work?
Having the flexibility to work at a time, place, and pace that may be different from typical office hours enables people with long-term conditions to better manage their symptoms and shape their working patterns around any necessary medical appointments or treatment regimes. By enabling people to work in a flexible way, you are helping them to give their best to the role, and take good care of their wellbeing at the same time.
- Level up your workplace adjustments
Workplace adjustments exist to reduce the barriers that people with long-term conditions face in their job role, and put them on more of a level playing field with others. There will most likely be some adaptations you are already familiar with, but how many different workplace adjustments can you name right now?
There are all kinds of adjustments that can empower people with long-term conditions – not only equipment that helps them to do their role, but adaptations to their working patterns and communication preferences too. Take your lead from the employee in question – there may be things that help to reduce any barriers they face that you haven’t heard of before, but could well make a successful workplace adjustment that improves their working life.
- Engage with targeted training
9.1 million people in England are projected to be living with major illness by 2040 (The Health Foundation, 2023), and up to one in three disabled people have an Energy Limiting Condition (Chronic Illness Inclusion, 2021). Despite this, the unique challenges of these conditions are rarely even included in existing disability equality training, let alone explored in-depth.
- Refresh your Inclusive Language skills
Do you know how to talk about long-term conditions in the workplace? Are you familiar with terms such as Energy Limiting Conditions, dynamic disabilities, and ambulatory wheelchair users, and the key differences between them?
Again, the language use and narratives surrounding long-term conditions are often omitted from traditional inclusive language training, and this was one of the reasons that prompted us to develop our own training through Astriid. Ensuring your language use is informed and up-to-date is one of the most impactful ways to show your commitment to supporting people in your workforce who are managing such conditions. Our training exists to help you do just that, with an emphasis on empowering employees with long-term conditions and making individuals feel valued and seen.
- Facilitate Confident Conversations
Living with a long-term condition can be extremely difficult and isolating at times. Many people find that being in work, in the right environment, boosts their wellbeing, but any individual’s condition and access needs can change or evolve at any time.
This is why it’s key to ensure there are open lines of communication and employees feel able to share the challenges they are facing (if they choose to) and ask for the things they need. Confident conversations about long-term conditions and employee wellbeing shouldn’t be a one-time occurrence that happens during the onboarding process, but instead take the form of a continual open dialogue where people are empowered to share their experiences (again, if they choose to) and ask for the things that enable them to thrive.
