Managing Diabetes In The Workplace To Boost Employee Wellbeing

Diabetes is a common chronic disease affecting most of the population globally. Research cites that about 537 million people belonging to the age group of 20 to 79 years are leading their lives with some form of diabetes.
This disease that leads to uncontrolled blood glucose levels, if left untreated, can cause further health troubles. However, people with diabetes can work with little bit or no impact on their performance.

And for this very reason, people, especially employers, rarely learn about their employees' diabetes history. Unless and until the employees share about it, or their health conditions decline, only then will employers or the management realize the struggle.

Diabetes has now become a global concern. Moreover, busy bees like you and I are risk at of getting diagnosed with type 2 diabetes due to factors like-

• Long working hours
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Poor eating habit

Hence, employers must take proactive measures to prevent and manage diabetes in the workplace. To do that, employers should be clear about diabetes and its impact on the work environment.

This blog is a comprehensive guide for employers to manage employees living with diabetes efficiently.

Diabetes: What You Need to Know

Diabetes is a chronic disorder that impacts the human body's metabolism, leading to high blood sugar levels. There are primarily two types of diabetes – Type 1 and Type 2 .

A person with Type 1 diabetes has high blood sugar levels as the pancreas is unable to produce insulin. In the latter one, the affected person has high sugar levels since the insulin in the blood cannot break glucose into energy.

Types of Diabetes

Diabetes has a pretty broad spectrum of its own. The leading cause and the severity of this disease varies with type.

Type 1 Diabetes

Diabetes has a pretty broad spectrum of its own. The leading cause and the severity of this disease varies with type.

Insulin is the hormone that gets released from the pancreas. It lets glucose enter cells; in its absence, sugar accumulates in the bloodstream. In Type 1 diabetes, the production of insulin stops or reduces.

Also known as juvenile diabetes, Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells mistakenly while fighting harmful bacteria and viruses.

Apart from this, Type 1 diabetes can come with genes and environmental factors. It is not that common, and only 5-10 % of people might be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and it is primarily found in children, teens, and adults under the age of 40.

One cannot prevent this type of diabetes but can only manage it. Affected individuals must take insulin shots daily to keep blood sugar levels on track.

Type 2 Diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is also known as adult-onset diabetes. However, children are also diagnosed with this type, due to childhood obesity in the current world. This type of diabetes messes up with the entire body metabolization of sugar.

Here, the body becomes insulin-resistant and does not use it properly. As a result, glucose cannot enter the cells, and sugar builds up in the bloodstream. Due to increased blood sugar levels, the pancreas releases more insulin for the cells to respond, but insufficient insulin is produced to maintain normal glucose levels.

So, all in vain. The pancreas cannot keep up with this change and falls short of meeting body demands, which fails to prevent sugar levels from rising. Being overweight and staying active is one of the contributing factors to Type 2 diabetes.

One can manage this disorder through an active lifestyle- proper exercise and diet, medication, or insulin therapy, which requires insulin administration through a syringe or implanted insulin pump.

Gestational Diabetes

Gestational diabetes occurs during the pregnancy period. Like the other two types,it has everything to do with how the body cells use glucose.

High blood sugar level has a high chance of affecting pregnancy and the child's health.

The bright side is that gestational diabetes disappears after delivery, and not-so-bright is the fact that once one has had this type of diabetes, the probability of getting Type 2 increases, which is why expectant mothers need to go on frequent blood checkups.

Again, exercise and healthy food become the savior of people with diabetes.

Diabetes and Its Impact on the Workplace

As the US sees a rise in its diabetic population each day, it is just a matter of time before the whole working generation would be down with diabetes. Managing work and health infact is a challenge for diabetic employees.

• A diabetic employee's productivity would be different from a non-diabetic one, for the former will be fatigued most of the time due to the disease. Research shows that employees with Type 1 diabetes have lost 23% of their work productivity, while employees with Type 2 diabetes have a declined productivity of 19%.

• Rise in absenteeism, for there might be days when the diabetic employee would not feel well enough to come to the office, leading to increased sick leaves. A study cites that the mean total duration of sickness absence of diabetic employees was 31.71 days, and that of non-diabetic employees was 16.57 days.

• Diabetic individuals might have to go through workplace discrimination, and the rest of the staff might not consider them reliable enough for work assistance. In fact, according to the Lancet, 4 out of 5 people with diabetes experience discrimination.

• Economic productivity will also take a hit for a high chance of diabetic employees going for early retirement and a higher medical cost to be covered by the employer.

• Employees with diabetes need to follow a diet schedule. Also, they have to take medication and test blood sugar levels twice a day, which may hinder their work schedule.

• A diabetic employee is at risk of getting injured sooner than the other employees.

Suggested read: Protect Your Workplace with a Strong Health and Safety Policy

Employers Role in managing employees with diabetes

An employer and employee's relationship is beyond transactional. Gone are the days for employers when all they had to offer was a big check to retain and attract top talent.

Nowadays, employees consider and prefer companies offering well-being benefits. Particularly in this case, a study showed that 90% of employees feel empowered to work in an organization that finances diabetes management.
So, if you are planning to create a support system for employees with diabetes in the workplace, here are seven impactful tips to begin with.

1. Conduct Biometric screenings

The foremost step in managing diabetes in the workplace involves thorough screening and assessment. This determines the risk level of this disorder in the workplace. Further, it helps you estimate who is at risk and needs immediate support.

Additionally, screenings help identify risk factors linked to this disease.

Related read: What is a Biometric Test And Why Employers Should Offer Them

2. Provide educational and awareness campaigns

Ignorance is bliss, but not in all cases, especially in this one. Diabetes is one of those medical conditions that doesn't easily reflect on one's body. Humans tend to act on our health for the better, mainly when it becomes physically visible.

So, as part of diabetes management, you can run educational campaigns to create awareness among employees about the dangers of diabetes. Such an initiative will also help break the stigma around diabetes.

3. Offer organization-wide training on blood sugar management

The educational campaigns should also include workshops wherein employees will learn tips and tricks to manage blood sugar levels. Such workshops will be an eye-openers for the signs and symptoms of diabetes. This way, people with diabetes can manage the disorder better.

4. Access to Diabetes-Care Supplies

Blood sugar test kits should be available in the workplace if you want to create a supportive space for such employees. This is crucial since diabetes patients are advised to test their sugar levels twice daily.

Also, keeping a room allotted for this purpose will reassure employees they are being cared for.

Providing safe food options for diabetes in the workplace will help manage the disorder better. Alternatively, you can offer additional medical leave for employees to go on special health checkups.

5. Implement a diabetes management program

Managing diabetes is all about making lifestyle changes. Adopting a healthier lifestyle makes diabetes management more effortless. Although leading a healthier lifestyle seems easy, sticking to it in the long run becomes challenging.

This is where a diabetes management program comes into play. A small study suggests that implementing such a program will help reduce the glycemic index of diabetic patients to some extent.

Diabetes management programs are scientifically designed to assist diabetes patients in modifying their lifestyles as required. Thus, it is an excellent initiative for employers to incorporate if they want to manage diabetes in the workplace efficiently.

6. Create a healthy and supportive environment

Along with offering all the above benefits, fostering a positive and supportive environment plays a critical role in the success of diabetes management at work. People with diabetes in the workplace require empathy, but not in a very obvious way.

Employers have the upper hand here to encourage healthy habits at work.

You can conduct wellness programs - hold contests and fitness challenges. Make it a weekly schedule. Introduce new and exciting competitions every week and reward your employees for achieving the health targets.

Doing this will make both diabetic and non-diabetic employees work on their health, which will take care of diabetes.

Suggested read: 9 Ways To Create A Healthy Work Environment To Improve Employee Health

7. Educate Managers

Hiring diabetes educators to educate the entire staff about diabetes is crucial, especially for the managers responsible for holding the team together. As we know, managers are super busy with their day-to-day activities.

In such a situation, employers should educate managers about a diabetic employee's various needs. Awareness has to be there because only then can the disease's intensity be understood, and accommodation can be arranged accordingly.

The best would be to offer a less strict work routine for employees with diabetic conditions. Maybe you can hold quick quiz sessions with the employees to test their knowledge of diabetes to make the programs more appealing and less tedious.

A supportive and empathetic workspace motivates employees to take on their self-care tasks dedicatedly. Offer specialized health insurance benefits that include blood sugar level checkups, medication discounts, and so on.

What can employees do to manage diabetes at work?

Diabetes comes with its set of challenges, from health issues to discrimination. While most employers are willing to do their part in diabetes management at work, here are some essential yet crucial insights about what employees can do:

Keep track of your diet while at work. Mindful eating is, in fact, something that every busy individual should practice to lead a healthy lifestyle.

• Minimize stressors that have the potential to spike blood sugar levels.
• Practice mindfulness exercises daily for at least 10 minutes.
• Practice simple yoga exercises that will strengthen the body from the inside out.

Final thoughts

Diabetes is a severe disease, but it's controllable and preventable. All one needs is to be loyal to one's health. I hope the insights mentioned will help employers and administrators in managing diabetes in the workplace better.