Managing Migraine in the Workplace: How Employers Should Address It

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Migraines: symptoms and overview

Migraines are a variant of headache with various symptoms such as headache with nausea, restlessness, dizziness, lack of energy, disturbance in vision, and sensitivity to light. These symptoms may differ from person to person.

Migraines can be a chronic disease if not addressed at an early stage.Harvard Business Reviewstates that more than a billion people suffer from migraines worldwide. They usually attack during the most productive professional years, i.e., 25–55 years old.

Despite these overwhelming statistics, working professionals suffering from migraines often face multiple challenges, neglect, and discrimination in the workplace. Therefore, company owners and organizations should take strong measures to improve the health and wellness of employees suffering from migraines.

In this write-up, we have collated a few of the best ways to address migraines in the workplace.

How to prevent migraines in the workplace

There might be multiple reasons that can trigger migraines. When it comes to the workplace, flashy lights, such as blue, yellow, red, and fluorescent lights; flickering lights; noisy work areas; work-related stress, etc., may trigger migraines in some employees.

Prevention is always better than cure. Employers can prevent migraines at work if they focus on some key triggers. They must carefully analyze the workspace and make crucial upgrades to the physical space and work culture.

If you are an employer and searching for some effective ways to eliminate this risk, consider implementing these measures at your workplace:

1.      Monitor employees’ stress levels

As an efficient employer, make it your priority to ensure that your employees are not under excessive stress, tension, or work pressure. It adversely impacts their health and wellness. This in turn may lead to a loss in productivity and impact the growth of both your employees and yourself.

Monitor your employees’ stress levels. The wellness or HR department must plan an evaluation program to observe and measure the stress and work pressure levels of the employees.

By practicing these monitoring procedures, you can easily track and identify those individuals who are under inordinate stress, anxiety, and work pressure. This also helps in planning further tailored support for your workforce.

2.      Upgrade the workplace environment

After executing the monitoring and prevention processes, identify the common triggers of migraines in the workspace. You must curate a plan to upgrade the workplace and working environment by restricting and eliminating these common triggers. Some elements of this upgrade could be:

  • Replacing or changing faulty lighting devices or fluorescent lights
    • Providing adequate blue light protectors or screens for various devices
    • Launching awareness programs to inform the workforce and staff on how they may trigger another worker’s migraine attack, and how to curb them
    • Promoting flexible work timings and shifts to support better sleep cycles of the employees
    • Including work flexibility such as work time off, holidays, work from home, or shorter work hours to employees prone to migraines.

Moreover, it is also recommend to provide employees a comprehensive healthcare package which includes group health insurance, regular health checkups, teleconsulations etc. These are definitive measures to improve their mental health and work efficiency.

3.      Plan and execute migraine intervention programs

This is essential to promote awareness and provide education, support, and quality treatment for employees with migraines. Follow these points to efficiently implement migraine intervention programs:

  • Draft a migraine intervention program to monitor the treatment progress and clinical improvement of the employees suffering from migraines.
    • Offer referrals to trusted and efficient neurologists and healthcare providers to clinically diagnose and reduce the severity and frequency of migraine attacks.
    • Assess the effectiveness of the programs through employee surveys and feedback forms, and incorporate feedback.

Conclusion

Migraines can cause severe neurological issues if not treated properly and on time. They may also lead to permanent disability, loss of vision, or even memory loss. Migraines mostly attack working professionals suffering from stress, lack of sleep, irregular meals, or dehydration.

Employers must therefore act accordingly to build a supportive workplace for employees battling this condition. Companies and businesses can adopt the aforementioned measures to address migraines and stress-related concerns to create a transformed, empathetic, and health-conscious workplace.



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