CHRONIC ILLNESSES AND CONTINUED EMPLOYMENT

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being that is not simply the absence of illness or disability”(1)

For Strategys, the social need for the health of employees is far from being limited to the management of illness. Just like the World Health Organisation, we are resolved to the development of an evolving infrastructure that will allow a comprehensive management of health based on four elements: promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. Our health management programs promote team spirit and the adoption of new behavior through personal coaching. We establish a health and wellness committee in each company and our team of kinesiologists organise a plan of action based on attainable and motivational objectives.

Moreover, the management of chronic conditions and the support of affected employees remains a priority for the Strategys health program. In the face of the ever-growing number of illnesses in the active population, companies can no longer be content to consider them individually. The solution is to implement group policies in order to favour continued employment of those affected. Managing health at work is complex and must take into account several economic interests that often diverge: the firm, the union and public policy. Workplace health is in fact too often associated with these divergent interests. Workplace health models are destined to fail even before being put in place. “The majority of workers who are ill hesitate to reveal their situations within the professional environment, including not talking to the company doctor.”(2)

Chronic evolving illnesses (CEI) affect 15 % of the active population. They include very diverse illnesses (cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cardio-vascular diseases, psychological conditions, AIDS, etc.), and are characterised by shorter or longer episodes- sometimes several months-with more or less positive results. Primarily, however, they are growing significantly within the working population.
This “confrontation” of chronic evolving illnesses gives rise to new challenges for organisations. The impact of these often serious, long and uncertain illnesses disrupt the working environment and the staff. Treatments, fatigue, lack of concentration, brief but frequent absenteeism: to such a variable extent that organisations have difficulty managing them. Management is poorly equipped and badly informed to be able to meet these challenges.

For the employees who are ill, the effect is two-fold: added to the fragile physical and psychological condition linked to the symptoms and treatment of the illness, is the risk of being stigmatised, isolated, guilty and excluded. Colleagues also feel rather helpless.
“Most workers who are ill hesitate to reveal their situation within their professional environment.”(3)

The pooled approach of the Strategys Employee Life and Health Trust allows the establishment of an independent and autonomous plan able to combine the financial and professional resources that provide employees of small enterprises with access to expanded and up-to-date services which a traditional plan can never attain.