Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER November 2, 2015 NEWS 9 and be fatigued, and not be able to produce the way that they know they're capable of. So that impacts morale, it causes difficulty within teams if one person's not seen to be pulling their weight." People with Type 2 diabetes may often feel a sense of guilt or frustration, and there are some links with depression, said Taylor. "ere's lots of links between depression and diabetes — both Type 1 and Type 2 — and again, that's partly related to (the stress of ) managing illnesses," she said. "We also know that unfortu- nately a lot of the treatments for people with mental illness cause weight gain and Type 2 diabetes. So sometimes, diabetes comes first and then they develop dif- ficulties with depression; some- times the depression is first, and the treatments that we need in order to help somebody function with depression or another men- tal illness unfortunately causes weight gain and increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes. We don't re- ally understand exactly how that association works yet." ere's also the whole issue of compliance with treatment, which can become a challenge with people who are feeling depressed, overwhlemed or frustrated. "Compliance is a big issue," said Satok. "I don't want to take medi- cation, so maybe what I do is I do denial. "We know that about 57 per cent of people don't take their medication regularly — so what are we doing about that?" Accommodation Employers can help by providing simple, inexpensive accommoda- tions for employees. Those ac- commodations will vary from in- dividual to individual, said Nagpal. "Some of the common things that we hear about are that people would ask for a private or a safe place to test their blood sugar, a private or a safe place to adminis- ter insulin, regular breaks so they can have snacks. And consistent throughout the day, they have asked for access to fast-acting sug- ar in case of a hypoglycemic event, or a place to rest if they experience hypoglycemia," she said. Often, employers are afraid of the costs of accommodating, said Patrizia Piccolo, partner at Rubin omlinson in Toronto. "ey're often surprised when I say to them 'e average cost of accommodation of a disabil- ity, including diabetes, is $500 or less…' so if you think of that, those are minimal-cost accom- modations that are so easy to incorporate into the workplace to allow that individual to be a productive member of that work- place, and to really allow them to flourish in the role." However, along with accom- modation is, of course, the related challenge of self-disclosure, said Piccolo. "What we find happens in most workplaces is the issues (aren't of- ten self-reported), it's not usually a self-disclosure. It usually happens where we have someone who is suffering silently, and the issues manifest as performance issues — absenteeism, they're taking longer to do their work, they're constantly tired, they're not con- centrating and so on. So manage- ment sort of brings it forward as a performance-related issue and deals with it on a performance basis," she said. "(But) trained management will stop and say, 'Is there some- thing going on here that you need some help with?' Because failure to ask that question presupposes that it's solely a performance is- sue, and we walk down that dis- cipline path, and then it balloons into so much more than it should have been. "So there's all of those steps, that training that needs to go into the management side to rec- ognize signs and symptoms of someone who might be suffering, whether it be from depression or diabetes or other disabilities within the workplace, and a duty to do so under our human rights legislation." Prevention best cure As with most health conditions, prevention and proactive mea- sures are the best approach, said Kapustin. "A lot of organizations are miss- ing very key marks that are very easy to put into place, that are very inexpensive, and most of it is around prevention, maintenance, education." Investing in wellness really does pay off, although it is an upfront investment and that scares some people away a bit, said Joana Oliveira, HR business partner, people and growth at Softchoice in Toronto. "ere's still some uncertainty in the actual returns and ROI, but it's definitely a huge opportunity." ere are some great interven- tions that work, but they're going to take a culture shift, said Taylor. To that end, it's about creating a context in which health can be the natural outcome, said Nagpal. "People really blame themselves when they become overweight, or they develop Type 2 diabetes," she said. "And while you could say that that is true, people behave within the broader contexts of where they live. So if you're in a workplace that offers healthy op- tions..., that's what you will con- sume. If there's vending machines everywhere and you're on a quick break, that's what you'll consume. If you're in a peer group that doesn't exercise or doesn't take regular breaks, that's what you will do. "So it is really mobilizing health behaviours that I think will win in this battle that we're having, and trying to change our social norms." Self-disclosure a challenge COMBATING < pg. 8 Shana Kapustin, SYNNEX Canada "Employers are often surprised when I say the average cost of accommodation of a disability, including diabetes, is $500 or less." Patrizia Piccolo, Rubin Thomlinson David Satok, Rogers Communications Seema Nagpal, Canadian Diabetes Association Joana Oliveira, Softchoice Valerie Taylor, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

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