A few weeks ago I was challenged, as a senior manager of a company, to participate in a webinar organised by a patient association. As I prepared for this challenge, I found myself thinking that I knew very little or nothing about the debilitating disease involved.
I searched and gathered information. At that moment, I remembered an employee of my company who was diagnosed with early-onset multiple sclerosis. This disease started by limiting some of his movements. As time went by, the degree of mobility of our employee was drastically reduced and we had to change his workstation and create new conditions for him to park his car near the lift access. Fortunately, we now have the digitalisation of processes, which has contributed decisively to this employee still being able to perform his duties in an exemplary manner, but from home.
When I was asked in that webinar what suggestions I had to present to the management of that association, I said that, in companies, everything should start with sensitising their managers and employees. We all have employees or family members in our teams who suffer from an illness that may limit their performance. We should therefore seek to learn more about illnesses, how they affect people and possible ways to help them minimise their impact, integrate them and make their daily lives easier. But not necessarily only in companies.
"We all have employees or family members in our teams who suffer from an illness that may limit their performance"
I therefore leave three suggestions:
- Sensitise society at large, starting with primary and secondary schools;
- Sensitise students at universities;
- Sensitise company managers.
Through awareness-raising actions, the different patient associations (e.g. epilepsy, diabetes, parkinson, colour blindness, etc.) should be invited to explain the diseases and their effects, as well as to present ways to alleviate their impacts. In other words, how can employees adapt and help and how can companies prepare, adapt jobs and adopt new ways of working.
It would be a small step to start creating a better business world and making a difference by example in society.
