The power of remote work for chronic illness
By Lorene Alba, certified asthma educator (AE-C) and chronic disease advocate
March 1, 2023
In 1993, I was diagnosed with severe asthma. After ten years of working as a chef, my asthma simply couldn’t handle the hot, stressful kitchens, so I made the decision to leave. I thought that an office job would keep me out of the emergency room and give my lungs a much-needed rest.
What I quickly learned was that working in an office came with its own set of health challenges. I was now surrounded by fresh flowers, strong colognes and cleaning supply fumes which may seem harmless to the average person, but to someone with severe asthma, could trigger an asthma attack. I was also catching more viruses than ever due to the amount of people I was exposed to on public transportation and in my busy office building.
Over the years, there were many times when my asthma flared up and I asked to work from home to keep myself from being exposed to more triggers, but most of my requests were denied. It was a widely held belief that corporate culture required people to work at the office, and only an in-person working environment could enable productivity, collaboration and innovation. That’s simply not true.
Keeping healthy people healthy
Fast forward to early 2020. Many people were asked to work from home in an effort to slow the spread of covid-19. Employers were now quick to accommodate remote employees and find creative ways to keep workers engaged and productive in lieu of an in-person working environment. Video calls became the norm. We attended company holiday parties and professional conferences from the safety and comfort of our own homes. Widespread accommodations were made nearly overnight to keep healthy people from getting sick. In the process, these increased remote work opportunities resulted in record high employment rates for those living with disabilities.
Now, nearly three years later, people are being called back into the office while covid persists, and flu and RSV cases are on the rise. The remote versus hybrid versus in-person working debate is primarily focused on productivity, company culture and the personal preferences of high-ranking executives. Is there no longer a desire to keep people with and without chronic conditions as healthy as possible?
Living with a chronic condition
People with asthma can be triggered anywhere, anytime. Getting through daily activities can feel like navigating a maze. To avoid our asthma triggers, we often stop seeing family and friends, decline engagements or even avoid leaving our homes, which can lead to feeling isolated. People living with chronic conditions like asthma already deal with a variety of challenges on a day-to-day basis and make choices to avoid serious health risk; navigating a job and workplace environment doesn’t have to be one of these challenges.
Asking for accommodations
If you’re like me and trying to navigate workplace accommodations while also navigating your disease, it is best to approach work-related conversations about your individual needs openly and honestly. Below are some tips to consider if you’re being asked back to the office and need accommodations.
- Talk with your supervisor or human resources department about the current office environment and how certain aspects can greatly impact your health and ability to do your job.
- Focus on how improving the air quality at work can keep everyone healthier.
- Provide examples of reasonable accommodations for consideration like a fragrance-free policy and adding air purifiers that can help everyone breathe better.
Offering accommodations
Even better than responding to an employee’s requests is proactively offering accommodations and factoring chronic illness into a workplace’s policies. If you’re a business leader or manager, below are some ideas for making an office more inclusive.
- Re-evaluate your current policies, like remote work policies and flexible sick time policies, from the perspective of someone with a chronic illness. Your workforce will continue to be productive when given the opportunity to concentrate on their health and well-being.
- Be open to trying new accommodations that make the workplace more inclusive for everyone.
- Ensure employees are routinely made aware of what accommodations are available.
And this flexibility can be incredibly beneficial when it comes to the overall workplace satisfaction of employees and their productivity.
- Remote employees were 52 percent more likely to say their company culture has improved over the past two years compared with fully in-person employees—and flexible remote work policies were cited as the top reason their company culture has improved.
- Employees with full schedule flexibility reported 53 percent greater ability to focus than employees without flexibility in their schedules.
The pandemic has a thin silver lining: enhancing our awareness of how our actions impact the health and safety of others. It proved that flexible work accommodations are not only possible, but effective. As our workplaces consider how to “return to normal,” it’s worth considering what does not need to return. Perhaps our workplaces ditch antiquated policies that weren’t inclusive or accommodating to those with chronic illness or disabilities in the first place. Instead, we can make holistic and inclusive policies designed to ensure that no one gets left behind again.
For more information about how to communicate about chronic conditions like asthma, visit TheAirBetweenUsAll.com
The content is paid for and supplied by advertiser. The Washington Post was not involved in the creation of this content.
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