Employees with health conditions who have access to key resources may return to work faster
Employees say it’s better to approach HR administrators than a direct supervisor about having a significant health condition, according to a new study — which found 48 percent of workers felt their supervisor treated them differently because of their condition.
The study also found employees who needed to take a leave of absence from work and interacted with their HR administrator about their health condition were able to return to work 44 percent faster than those who dealt with direct supervisors.
In general, connecting employees to workplace health resources, such as services provided by a disability insurance carrier and wellness and employee assistance programs, can help prevent disability leave or result in a shorter employee disability leave duration, according to the research.
Workers who received support had an employee disability leave that was, on average, 31 days less than workers who weren’t provided with any employer support.
To find out more about the study — which involved respondents who’d received accommodations in the past year due to a health condition that either changed the way they worked for at least six to eight weeks or required them to take a leave of absence from work — view this information from The Standard, the company that commissioned the research, or read the full report.