Around 1 in 7 people in the world deal with migraines. For a percentage of these people, their migraines are chronic, meaning they occur on a regular basis without any seeming remedy.
Chronic migraine can be a factor that influences a person getting and keeping a job. Someone who deals with migraines on a regular basis can struggle to work. They can rack up a lot of absences from their work if the condition isn’t managed appropriately. As such, the relationship between work and migraines can be a complicated but important issue to explore and discuss.
On this page of our Disability Advice Hub, we are looking to do just this. We are going to discuss more about chronic migraine and what it means, and then we will look at how this affects both employees and employers in the working world. Our aim is to spread awareness and education so that everyone can have an easier time working together.
Let’s start with a deeper look at chronic migraine.
What is a Chronic Migraine?
A migraine can be defined as a moderate or severe headache that typically occurs on one side of the head. The headache can be accompanied by other symptoms including nausea, vomiting, and light sensitivity. These headaches can come with warning signs, known as “aura”, or they can come unexpectedly. Either way, people who experience migraine can suffer greatly. For those dealing with chronic migraine, this suffering can become part of their general life.
There is no known cure for migraine at this point in time. However, some medications and home remedies can help lessen the symptoms or prevent the migraine from occurring. For example, cutting out some food groups helps certain people, while water therapy might help others. For many people, painkillers and rest may be the only solutions and, even then, the migraine may take a long time to pass.
When it comes to work, most people will feel that they cannot work while they are suffering from a migraine. The pain and symptoms such as noise/light sensitivity make it difficult to manage in a work environment. It can even make it difficult to look at screens. This means working from home doesn’t always provide the necessary rest and relief either.
Due to this, many people living with chronic migraine find themselves missing work frequently due to their symptoms. If their migraines are particularly frequent, they may find themselves needing to leave work altogether. This can be tough emotionally, financially, and practically.
The ideal situation is, therefore, that people dealing with chronic migraine would be able to work in a way that more appropriately supports them and their life with the condition. Let’s discuss how that might work.
What Employees Dealing with Chronic Migraines Need
From our point of view, there are three main things that all employees dealing with chronic migraines need in order to keep them happier and healthier at work, these are as follows:
Flexibility:
Due to the fact that migraines can appear without warning and affect work attendance, offering flexibility to a migraine sufferer is one of the best things an employer can do. If you have migraines and know you can work flexible hours, this can be a big relief. Tailoring yours to what suits you and your health is much more suitable than trying to force yourself into a rigid schedule. One that often goes sideways due to ill health anyway. Flexi-time, flexible working hours, and hybrid working models can all be beneficial for migraine sufferers.
Protection from absence discrimination:
Your place of work can discipline you if you are absent from work too frequently, but not if you are disabled. To be disabled in the U.K., you need to have a condition that affects your daily ability to live and perform everyday tasks. This also needs to be something that has affected you for or will affect you for more than 12 months. If your experience with chronic migraine meets these criteria, then you should enquire about your classification as a disabled person. Once this is the case, you cannot be dismissed or disciplined on the grounds of absences related to your disability. This helps a lot when you are dealing with a chronic condition. Talk to your GP and/or Citizen’s Advice for more help with this.
Empathy and understanding:
Chronic migraine is, unfortunately, not a condition too many people know about and understand. This means that your employer may not understand what you are going through and offer adequate empathy, leading to further problems and upset at work. One of the very best ways that you can protect yourself at work is to work for someone understanding. Disability-Friendly employers are your best bet for this and, luckily for you, we have a list of those right here on Careers with Disabilities. We also have a live job board which can help you find the perfect job opportunity for you in the industry you want to work in. You deserve to work somewhere that cares about your health and well-being, so why not go and find them?
What Employers Can Do
Reading the above section should help you as an employer understand what is best for people living with chronic migraine. Thinking of things from your employee’s point of view is always the best starting point for knowing how to support them in the best way possible, so take some time to read through our section for employees with chronic migraine and try and apply that information to your own situation.
Furthermore, here are some steps you can take to be the most accessible employer possible to those with chronic migraine:
Take training and learning opportunities
Whenever you can, learn as much as possible about the conditions your employees are living with. If you understand what your employee is dealing with on a daily basis, it is much easier to make the right decisions for them in the workplace. If you don’t understand, it is much easier to make the wrong decisions. Choose your side wisely!
Become a Disability Confident certified employer:
The Disability Confident scheme is a great opportunity to level up your business. Showing the world that you are equipped to recruit and support disabled people opens up doors of opportunity for both you and your employees. It allows you to recruit from a much wider, more diverse pool of candidates and it supports you to support them as best possible. If you want to get started with this, you can read the guide on our site and see how we can help you too.
Sign up for Careers with Disabilities:
At Careers with Disabilities, we can support employers on their inclusivity journey. We offer a range of packages that allow you to become as inclusive as possible on the job market. This will allow you to recruit people of all abilities and life circumstances and give them the best opportunities available. If this sounds like something you are ready to do, take a peek at our services for employers and get in touch directly if you have any questions.
If we work together, we can provide better work environments for everyone. Wouldn’t that be a treat?
