Did you know that cases of diabetes have been doubled in the U.S. during the last twenty years? Indeed, a significant amount of people around the world has to live with the disease and, thus, manage it on a regular basis. But what exactly is diabetes and can it cause any inconveniences when it comes to your lifestyle, work, or leisure? And how can employers improve working conditions for their employees who live with the disease? Keep reading this article to find the answer.
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A Few Words on Diabetes
In order to figure out what can be done to improve the working conditions for people with diabetes, it is essential to define what it is and what peculiarities does it have. Below, you will find the most crucial information on diabetes.
Diabetes is a medical condition that is characterized by high levels of glucose in the blood within a lengthy period. The most basic symptoms of the disorder are the following:
- Increased thirst and appetite;
- Blurred vision;
- Dry skin;
- General tiredness;
Unless being treated in a proper way, diabetes might lead to serious health issues like nerve damage, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure, heart attack, or such mental health issues as cognitive impairment. In the worst case, it might even cause death.
Depending on its peculiarities, diabetes is divided into several types, namely:
- Type 1 diabetes (or, as it is often called, “insulin-dependent” one). Therefore, people who suffer from type 1 diabetes are reliant on regular insulin injections;
- Type 2 diabetes (which is usually characterized by insulin resistance). People who live with type 2 diabetes are not dependent on regular insulin intake in most cases and can manage their disease through an active lifestyle and a healthy diet.
A side note: Apart from type 1 and type 2 diabetes, there is also a gestational diabetes type. It usually develops during pregnancy and disappears after a woman gives birth to her child.
How to Regulate Elevated Blood Glucose Levels When Managing Diabetes?
Depending on the type of diabetes you have to live with, there is a couple of methods to manage it. For instance:
- In the case of having type 1 diabetes, you would have to rely on insulin-based preparations or their analogs to maintain a healthy blood sugar level. As well, it would also be helpful to maintain a balanced diet and healthy weight.
- If you live with type 2 diabetes, most probably, you won’t need to intake special medications (unless of having a severe type 2 diabetes case). Otherwise, you would have to follow eat well and exercise regularly to maintain healthy body weight.
An important note: Both types of diabetes mellitus require regular blood sugar monitoring for disease control. As well, remember to visit your health care practitioner from time to time in order to manage diabetes efficiently.
Health and Wellness Benefits to Improve Working Conditions of Employees with Diabetes
When discussing the management of diabetes in the workplace, it is obvious that diabetes affects work productivity. Due to the fact that people who live with the disease might not have as strong health as their co-workers with normally low blood sugar levels, they might be absent more frequently or need to take breaks more often. However, there is still a number of methods how to reduce absenteeism and improve the general work environment for employees with diabetes. Please check out the main pieces of advice by going through the information below.
Scheduled Regular Breaks
One option to support people with diabetes in their workplace would be to provide them with scheduled pauses during their shift work so that they will be able to take their time to administer insulin or simply relax for a second. This way, you will be able to both support your diabetic employees and, as a result, encourage them to increase productivity.
Healthy Food Choices in the Canteen
In case your company has its own canteen, it would be a nice idea to add a couple of healthy positions to its menu. Thus, you will not only help your employees in their daily diabetes management but also help your healthy co-workers to avoid elevated glucose levels and high cholesterol by means of maintaining a balanced diet.
Medical Costs Covering
You might also consider an absolute or partial covering of medical costs and indirect costs for your employees who have to spend money on their diabetes preparations. Due to the fact that the economic costs of diabetes keep growing from year to year, your financial support might turn into a substantial input into your employees’ diabetes care and disease management.
Wellness Programs
As well, you might think of coming up with a special wellness program that will assist your employees to maintain regular physical activity and stay healthy. For instance, you might offer your employee a discount for certain services provided by health care professionals or gym membership. Such wellness measures will not only help diabetics to avoid diabetes-related complications but also assist healthy employees in their diabetes prevention. Obviously, it is not a must to provide your employees with unlimited access to wellness centers, but granting them a morning abonnement to the gym might turn into a wonderful way to improve their chronic health conditions, weight management, and lifestyle choices.
Insulin Supplies Storage
A tiny but very helpful thing you can do to help employees with high blood glucose levels at their workplace is to provide them with special storage for their medical treatment preparations. Because a great number of diabetes medications have to be stored in a dark, dry, and temperature-controlled place, how about providing employees with such minor adjustments as a special refrigerator or locker for their preparations and, thus, reduce the risk of them getting spoilt.
Regular Blood Glucose Tests
Finally, some employers test blood sugar levels of their employees from time to time. This way, they do not only take care of their co-workers with diabetes but also help healthy employees prevent the disease by means of diabetes risk assessment. Moreover, such blood tests will also come in handy when reducing increased absenteeism at work, as your diabetic co-workers won’t need to take a day off to drive to the hospital to check their sugar levels.
A side note: These are merely examples of how you can avoid employment discrimination in regard to people with diabetes. So, you can either try implementing one of the pieces mentioned above of advice or talking to your employees in person and asking them what you can do to help them in fighting lost productivity, improve their working conditions, and contribute to their health condition.
A Bottom Line
All in all, people who live with diabetes have to make an extra effort to maintain a proper health condition and avoid the risk of complications. Therefore, employers should not only take it into account but also assist them in their diabetes care. So, how about trying out the above-mentioned methods and making the lives of your co-workers with diabetes more pleasant?
