These pages give more information on the specific condition. They should be read in conjunction with our Supporting employees with long term health conditions pages to help you understand how a workplace can assist in helping an employee return to and remain at work.
There are 2 different types of diabetes – type 1 and type 2. Your employee's treatment will depend on which type they have been diagnosed with.
- Type 1 are insulin-dependent from diagnosis. It is not related to diet or weight, and is not preventable or curable.
- Type 2 can be linked to diet and weight and may be preventable. It can be controlled either by diet/exercise, oral medication, or insulin if the other treatment options have failed to give good control.
The prognosis (outlook) and physical and mental impact on the individual can vary, even with those with similar diagnoses. Treatment side effects can also be variable and debilitating on a day-to-day basis and sometimes longer term.
However, having good control of the condition helps reduce the likelihood of this.
How to support employees in the workplace
As an employer, you may need some external support from other agencies, such as Access to Work or charities such as Diabetes Scotland or an NHS Diabetic Liaison Nurse to provide additional advice and support for you and your employee.
You may find employees with a diagnosis of diabetes may have increased levels of sickness absence or they may need to attend the hospital or their specialist more frequently than those without the health condition.
Authorised absence, outwith the normal organisation sickness absence triggers, should be considered an appropriate adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. This would be identified within your Supporting Staff Attendance policy.
If you feel your policy doesn’t include this, you can get support from our Supporting staff attendance pages.
Other areas of consideration
Other areas that you can consider when supporting an employee with diabetes may include:
- extra time being given at the beginning of their break to check their blood sugar levels and administer their dose of insulin
- a safe, discrete and clean environment to administer their dose of insulin in, and access to glucose sweet or drink in an emergency
- regular breaks to allow them to monitor their blood sugars and eating habits
- an understanding of when they need additional support, for example when taking a hypo
- time to recover after a hypo
- if they are a shift worker, will this affect their diet and insulin regime?
- consider the nature of the work they do
- is it physically demanding for them?
- do they use more energy, therefore are at risk of becoming unwell?
- can they be redeployed or their duties amended to allow them to continue to work?
- do they drive as part of their job role? If so, do they need to inform the DVLA and insurance company of their diagnosis?
- review the risk assessments for the job they do. Consider if your employee became unwell during his working day and how it would affect them and their colleagues
- do you have contingency plans in place if your employee becomes unwell and is unable to remain at work?
- review your first aid arrangements
- encourage the employee to discuss possible signs and symptoms with work colleagues and first aiders
Hypoglycemic attack (Hypo)
Insulin-dependent diabetics are more at risk than those on oral medication of having a hypoglycaemic attack, commonly known as a 'hypo'. This is when blood glucose drops too low.
This may be because your employee hasn’t eaten enough or skipped a meal or has been undertaking a strenuous role or exercising more, and they have not adjusted their food intake and insulin dose to accommodate it.
Having a hypo can lead to confusion and unconsciousness if not treated quickly with a fast-acting carbohydrate, such as glucose sweets/drinks.
Diabetic employees should carry a 'hypo kit' and be allowed to have ready access to this. After the initial fast action with glucose sweets/drink, more complex carbohydrates are recommended (i.e. bread/crisps) to minimise further hypos. It takes approximately 45 minutes for cognitive function to be restored after a hypo.
When your employee is having a hypo, it is good practice to have a safe and clean area they can go to for recovery, with the ability to have time to recover and eat the food needed for their recovery.
Key sources of support
Key sources of support for both the employer and employee include
- NHS inform diabetes pages (external site)
- Information on Access to Work (external site)
- Information from Diabetes UK (external site)
- Information from UK Government on diabetes and driving (external site).
Healthy Working Lives can help you to develop supportive and inclusive workplace policies and offer support both online and on the telephone. You can contact the free and confidential advice line on 0800 019 2211 for more advice.
COVID-19
Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19), there may be further support required for your employee who has arthritis.
They may be in the category identified by the Scottish Government at very high risk of severe illness from COVID-19. To protect themselves, they have been issued with a letter informing them of shielding (external site) and what this means for them.
Within this shielding letter, there is lots of information on support for them. They can also use this to provide evidence to you as their employer that they cannot work outside their own home.
If they have not received a letter requesting them to follow shielding protocol, you may find that they still fall into a category of higher risk. This can be identified by the fact they get offered the flu vaccine by their GP. They do not need to accept this offer, but they need to have been classified by their GP as needing it because of their health condition.