Researchers offer three recommendations for HR
Researchers in Australia have outlined three measures to ensure employers are able to properly accommodate their employees with chronic illness.
Researchers Peter Ghin and Susan Ainsworth, in an article to The Conversation, said only few organizations have "sophisticated approaches" in managing chronically ill employees.
Managers are also often ill-equipped to support said staff, according to the researchers.
To address the problem, they outlined three ways, including making necessary adjustments to work schedules and tasks to accommodate fluctuating conditions, accepting reasonable accommodation requests, and providing managers with training to effectively support chronically ill employees.
"With appropriate training, managers are more likely to recognise that chronically ill workers are generally not seeking 'special treatment,' but ways to work more effectively within their changed capacities," the researchers said in The Conversation article.
"By recognizing the value of employees of all abilities, and proactively and systematically addressing the needs of their chronically ill workforce, employers can minimize extended workplace absences and improve the productivity of their workforce."
Shortcomings to workers with chronic illness
The recommendations came as the researchers pointed out that employers usually rely on "outmoded human resource and occupational health and safety systems" to support chronically ill staff.
But these measures are meant to accommodate short-term absences and acute illnesses, according to the researchers.
They also pointed out that chronically ill staff aren't always considered in organizational diversity and inclusion policies and procedures.
This is despite their research suggesting that 73% of employees with chronic illness said their jobs at least partially caused or made worse their conditions.
They are also more likely to be rejected from a job, treated unfairly in the workplace, and get harassed, according to the report.
"Organizations need to improve their engagement and management of chronically ill workers to meet their legal obligations," the researchers said in The Conversation.
